
I LIBRARY OF CONGRESs/ 



Shelf .-.., XI 3 , 



^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



:* «^ M> C 



!^^ 



> i. 



^'O 



V 









XI 



^ * ^* x-| ^1 »p 



%. '^^ 



A ^' it % V V e ' 



^ \ 



• ^ 



<^ 









(.4^ 



/<::fc. ^i'_ 'P*tf^£^l- ^p^ 



vy^O 



tz:. 



-3a <— 1 g^j^Or—* %^LJV < - * t^^k-^ - <--> %^<}— » q^W g ^^—i %.Jf »T-^ ^i^iT^ k-J»(j 



-JOSEPHUS M. FINOTTl 



Seriei- 



$■ 



^i 




•9**.- %^-* ^rs= ^-'' 5*1 



%^.-li 



SPIRITUAL RETEEAT 



OE 



EIGHT DAYS. 



By the Eight Eev. JOHN Mf DAVID, D. D. 

FIRST COADJUTOR OF BISHOP FLAGET. 



EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS, AND AN INTRODUCTION, 

BY M^J. SPALDING, D. D., 

BISHOP OF LOUISVILLE. 



LOUISVILLE: 
WEBB AND LEVERING, 

MDCCCLXIV. 



^ 






"6 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, by 

WEBB AND LEVERING, 

in the United States Court, for the District of Kentucky, 

in the year of our Lord, 1863. 



LC Control Number 



Stereotyped by Hills, O'DriscoU & Co. 
No. 141 Main St., Cincinnati. 




1 



tmp96 028042 



^ PEEFACE 






1 

^ Twenty one years have elapsed since the 
^ pious death of the saintly Bishop David^ the 
^ founder of the ecclesiastical Seminary, and of 
the Sisterhood of Nazareth^ in the Diocese of 
Louisville. Besides these living monuments 
of his devotion and successful zeal, he left 
behind him a considerable amount of writings, 
chiefly on spiritual and ascetic subjects. The 
most important of these, besides his Prayer 
Book, entitled True Piety, and his Cate- 
chism, which have been already published, are 
his Eight Days' Retreat, and his Manual 
for the Sisters of Nazareth. The latter w^as 
never completed, death having, it would appear, 
surprised him in the midst of this, his last 

( iii ) 



IV PREFACE. 



labor of love. Of the Four Parts of which 
it was to be composed, only the First and 
a small portion of the Second were written. 
As the First Part, however, is complete in 
itself, and contains much useful instruction 
on the religious life, which may be profit- 
able to other rehgious communities, whether 
of males or females, besides that of Naza- 
reth, I here publish it in an Appendix. 

Of the twenty four Meditations which were 
to be embraced in the Eight Days' Retreat, 
three are wanting, all belonging to the last 
Week. These I have supphed from "Man- 
resa, or the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius 
for general use," a valuable London publica- 
tion. From the same source I have freely 
borrowed whatever seemed to be necessary 
for rendering the present little work a more 
complete and practical Manual for the per- 
formance of the Spiritual Exercises; such as 
the practical advices, or Additions, of St. Igna- 
tius to those who wish to make a Retreat 



PREFACE. V 

with fruit, his methods of Prayer, and of 
Examination of Conscience, both general and 
particular, and Considerations for each day 
of the Retreat. I have also thought it well 
to prefix to the publication a brief biographi- 
cal sketch of the saintly Bishop David, to- 
gether with his short but admirable Method 
of Mental Prayer. 

I could have wished that some one more 
skilled in the science of the spiritual life had 
undertaken to edit this work. But having 
failed in my efforts to induce some member 
of the Society of Jesus to perform the task, 
I decided to do the best I could myself under 
the circumstances ; and for this purpose I drew 
on my notes of Retreats which were preached 
to the Students of the Propaganda College 
in Rome, about thirty years ago, by some of 
the most eminent disciples of St. Ignatius, 
including the late General of the Order. This. 
I have attempted to do in the Introduction, 
in the preliminary remarks at the beginning 



VI PREFACE. 



of each Week, and in the general ordering 
of the Exercises. 

Many pious persons, both in Kentucky 
and elsewhere, have aheady used the Medita- 
tions of the good Bishop David with much 
rehsh and fruit. In publishing them for gen- 
eral use, I have merely endeavored to furnish 
a not wholly unsuitable frame for a picture of 
great and solid merit. All that I ask of those 
who will use this little work is, that they will 
strive to profit by its contents, and will have 
the charity to breathe forth occasionally a 
short prayer for the unworthy Editor. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface iii 

Biographical Notice of Bishop David 9 

Inteoduction • • • *• 35 

I. The Nature and Objects of the Spiritual Exercises • • • • 36 

II. How are we to Perform the Exercises with Fruit 47 

METHOD OF MENTAL PRAYER. 

Chapter I.— Of Mental Prayer in General 53 

Chapter II. — Of the Preparation 53 

Chapter III.— Of the Meditation '• 56 

Chapter IV. — On the Conclusion 59 

Chapter Y. — Of some Advices Concerning Mental Prayer 60 

Chapter YI. — Of the Impediments to Mental Prayer 61 

Ten Additional Recommendations 63 

Contemplation, or Manner of Meditating on Sensible Objects • • 65 

I. Before the Contemplation 66 

II. During the Contemplation 66 

III. After the Contemplation 66 

OF DIVERS MANNERS OP PRAYING. 

First Manner 67 

Second Manner 68 

Third Manner • •• 69 

Method of Particular Examination 70 

Observations 71 

Method of the General Examination, to be made Every Day • • • • 72 

Prayer of St. Ignatius " Anima Christi," 72 

Prayer of Oblation and Divine Love, By St. Ignatius 73 

(vii) 



Vm CONTENTS. 

The Memorare, Bj St. Bernard 74 

Praj'er of Union with Jesus in all our Actions 74 

Union with Jesus and Maiy • • 75 

PREPARATORY EXERCISES. 

Meditation on Retreat 76 

What God has Prepared for you in Retreat 76 

What God asks of you in this Retreat 79 



EIGHT DATS' RETREAT. 



FIRST WEEK. 
Via Purgativa. The Way op Purification 83 

FIRST day. 

First Meditation. On the End of Man-..-. 86 

Consideration. The Principle of the Exercises. 90 

Second Meditation. On the End of Creatures 100 

Third Meditation. On the difference between attaching ourselves 

to God, and attaching ourselves to Creatures ••••• 105 

SECOND DAY. 

First Meditation. On the Enormity of Mortal Sin from the 

Punishment thereof Ill 

Consideration. The effects of Mortal Sin in the soul of the 

sinner 116 

Second Meditation. On our own Sins 125 

Third Meditation. On Hell 129 

THIRD DAY. 

First Meditation. On Death • 135 

Consideration. On the Punishment of the Damned 139 

Second Meditation. On the Particular Judgment 148 

Third Meditation. On the Prodigal Son • • 152 



CONTENTS. IX 

SECOND WEEK. 
Via Illuminativa. The Way op Enlightenment 158 

FOURTH DAY. 

First Meditation. On the Following of Christ 160 

Consideration. On the Public Life of Jesus Christ 165 

Second Meditation. On the Incarnation 172 

Third Meditation, On the Nativity of our Lord 177 

FIFTH DAY. 

First yeditation. On the Circumcision of Jesus Christ •• 182 

Consideration. On Yenial Sin. 187 

Second Meditation. On the Presentation of our Lord in the 

Temple 191 

Third Meditation. On the Private Life of Jesus Christ 196 

SIXTH DAY. 

First Meditation. On the two Standards 201 

Consideration. On the Discourse of our Lord after the Last 

Supper 205 

Second Meditation. Of the three Classes 214 

Third Meditation. On the three Degrees of Humility 218 

THIRD WEEK. 
Via Confirmativa. The Way of Strength 223 

SEVENTH DAY. 

First Meditation. On our Saviour's Passion. 225 

Consideration. On Mary our Mother 231 

Second Meditation. On the Passion of Jesus Christ ; from the 

Garden of Olives to His Condemnation. 237 

Third Meditation. On our Saviour's Crucifixion 242 



X CONTENTS. 

FOURTH WEEK. 
YiA Unitiva. The Way of Union by Love • • • 248 

EIGHTH DAY. 

First Meditation. On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 250 

Consideration. On Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother 

of God 258 

Second Meditation. On the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ in 

Heayen 264 

Third Meditation. On the Love of God 272 

Appendix. — Bishop David's Manual of the Religious Life 281 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 

OF THE 

RIGHT REV. JOH^^ B. DAYID, 

BISHOP OF MAURICASTEUM. 



John Baptist M. David was born in 1761, in a little 
town on the river Loire, in France, between the cities of 
Nantes and Angers. His parents were pious, exemplary, 
and ardently attached to the faith of their fathers. Though 
not wealthy, they were yet blessed with a competence for 
their own support, and for the instruction of their offspring. 
Sensible of the weighty responsibility which rests on Chris- 
tian parents, they determined to spare no pains or expense, 
that might be necessary for the Christian education of their 
children. 

Young John Baptist gave early evidences of deep piety, 
of solid talents, and of an ardent thirst for learning. At the 
age of seven, he was placed under the care of an uncle, a 
pious priest, who willingly took charge of his early educa- 
tion. By this good priest he was taught the elements of the 
French and Latin languages, and also those of music, for 
which he manifested great taste. He was enrolled in the 

(9) 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

number of eiifants de cIkbui^ or of the boys who served at 
the altar and sang in the choir. 

At the age of fourteen, he was sent by his parents to a 
neighboring college, conducted by the Oratorian priests. 
Here he distinguished himself for regularity, close applica- 
tion to his studies, solid talents, and, above all, for a sincere 
piety, which soon won him the esteem and love of both 
professors and fellow-students. But what all admired in 
him most, was that sincerity and candor of soul, which 
formed, throughout his long life, the distinctive trait in his 
character. 

From his earliest childhood, the young John Baptist had 
manifested an ardent desire to embrace the ecclesiastical 
state, that he might thus devote his whole Hfe to the service 
of Grod and of his neighbor, in the exercise of the holy 
ministry. His parents were delighted with these dispositions 
of their son ; and to second his purposes, they sent him to 
the diocesan seminary of Nantes. Here he entered with 
ardor on his sacred studies, in which he made solid profi- 
ciency. In the year 1778, the eighteenth of his age, he 
received the tonsure, and, two years later, the minor orders, 
from the hands of the Bishop of Angers. 

In the Theological Seminary he remained for about four 
years, during which he completed his course of studies, and 
took with honor the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. 
In the twenty-second year of his age he bound himself 
irrevocably to the sacred ministry, by receiving the holy 
order of sub-deaconship. 

M. David was ordained deacon in the year 1783 ; and, 
having shortly afterwards determined to join the pious 
congregation of Sulpicians, he went to Paris, and remained 
for two years in the solitude of Issy, to complete his 
theological studies, and to prepare himself, by retirement 



RIGHT REV. JOHX B. DAVID. 11 

and pra3^er, for the awful dignity of the priesthood, to which 
he was raised on the 24:th of September, 1785. 

Early in the 3^ear following, his superiors sent him to the 
Theological Seminary of Angers, then under the direction 
of the Sulpicians. Here he remained for about four years, 
discharging, with industr}' and ability, the duties of Professor 
of Philosophy, Theology, and the Holy Scriptures — always 
enforcing his lessons by his good example. At length the 
storm of the French Revolution broke over Angers ; and, 
late in the year 1790, the seminary was seized on by the 
revolutionary troops, and converted into an arsenal. The 
professors and students were compelled to fly for their lives : 
and M. David took shelter in a private family. In this 
retreat he spent his time in study, and in constant prayer to 
God, for light to guide him' in this emergency, and for his 
powerful aid and protection, to abridge the horrors of a 
revolution which was every where sacrificing the lives of the 
ministers of God, and threatening the very existence of the 
Catholic Church in France. 

After nearly two years of retirement, he determined, with 
the advice of his superiors, to sail for America, and to 
devote the remainder of his hfe to its infant and struggling 
missions. He embarked for America in 1792, in the company 
of MM. Flaget, Chicoisneau, and Badin. On the voyage, 
he applied himself with such assiduity to the study of the 
English language, as to have already mastered its principal 
diflBculties ere he set foot on American soil. 

Very soon after his arrival in the United States, Bishop 
Carroll ascertained that he knew enough of English to be 
of service on the missions ; and he accordingly sent him to 
attend to some Catholic congTcgations in the lower part of 
Maryland. M. David had been but four months in America, 
when he preached his first sermon in English ; and he had 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP 

the consolation to find that he was not only well understood, 
but that his discourse , made a deep impression on his 
hearers. For twelve years he labored with indefatigable 
zeal on this mission, in which he attended to the spiritual 
wants of three numerous congregations. He was cheered 
by the abundant fruits with which God everywhere blessed 
his labors. 

Feeling that mere transient preaching is generally of but 
little permanent utility, he resolved to commence regular 
courses of instruction in the form of Retreats ; * and so great 
was his zeal and industry, that he gave four Retreats every 
year to each of his congregations. The first was for the 
benefit of the married men ; the second, for that of the 
married women ; the third and fourth, for that of the boys 
and girls. To each of these classes he gave separate sets 
of instructions, adapted to their respective capacities and 
wants. 

His discourses were plain in their manner, and solid and 
thorough in their matter. He seldom began to treat, without 
exhausting a subject. At first, but few attended his Retreats ; 
but gradually the number increased, so as to embrace 
almost all the members of his congregations. But he 
appeared to preach with as much zeal and earnestness to 
the few, as to the many. He was often heard to say, that 
the conversion or spiritual profit of even one soul, was 
suflScient to enlist all the zeal, and to call forth all the 
energies of the preacher. 

Great were the efiects and most abundant the fruits, of 
M. David's labors, in the missions of Maryland. On his 

* As far as our information extends, he seems to have been the 
first clergyman in the United States who adopted a practice which 
has since proved so beneficial to religion. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 13 

arrival among them, he found his congregations cold and 
neglectful of their Christian duties ; he left them fervent 
and exemplary. Piety everywhere revived ; the children 
and servants made their first communion ; the older mem- 
bers of the congregations became regular communicants. 
Few that were instructed by him could ever forget their 
duty, so great was the impression he left, and so thorough 
was the course of instructions he gave. To the portion of 
Maryland in which he thus signalized his zeal, he bequeathed 
a rich and abundant legacy of spiritual blessings, which was 
destined to descend from generation to generation : and the 
good people of those parts still exhibit traces of his zeal, and 
still pronounce his name with reverence and gratitude. In 
the year 1804, Bishop Carroll found it necessary to recall 
M. David from the missions, in order to send him to 
Georgetown College, which was then greatly in need of his 
services. The good missionary promptly obeyed the call, 
and for two years discharged in that institution the duties 
of professor, with his accustomed fidelity and ability. 

In 1806, the Sulpicians of Baltimore expressed a wish to 
enlist his services in the Theological Seminary and the 
College of St. Mary's, under their direction in that city. 
M. David belonged to that body, and he promptly repaired to 
the assistance of his brethren. He remained in Baltimore 
for nearly five years, discharging various offices in the 
institutions just named, and devoted all his leisure time to 
the duties of the sacred ministry. He labored with so great 
zeal and constancy, that his constitution, naturally robust, 
became much impaired. Still he was not discouraged, nor 
did he give himself any rest or relaxation. A pure intention 
of promoting the honor and glory of God, and a constant 
spirit of prayer, sustained him, and hallowed his every 
action. 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

In the year 1808, the new Diocese of Bardstown was 
formed, embracing within its limits the States of Kentucky 
and Tennessee, although the delegated jurisdiction of the 
Bishop was to extend over the whole Northwest, as far as 
the Mississippi river. Kumor had fixed the appointment to 
the burdensome oflSce of bishop for the "Far West,'^ on 
Father David ; but the choice of the Holy See fell on his 
intimate friend, M. Flaget. Surprised at the news of 
this unexpected elevation, M. Flaget hastened to Baltimore 
to hear the sad intelligence either contradicted, or, if it 
proved to be true, to use every possible effort to shake off 
a responsibility which he believed to be entirely above his 
strength. The first person he met on the steps of the 
Seminary, was M. David, who, embracing him, confirmed 
the news, and, with tears in his eyes, added : *' They told 
me that I was to be the Bishop of Bardstown ; I did not 
believe it. But I determined, that, should this happen, I 
would invite you to accompany me. But the case being 
happil}^ reversed, I tender you my services without reserve." 

Owing to the long persevering unwiUingness of M. Flaget 
to assume the heavy burden of the episcopal oflQce, he was 
not consecrated till the 4th of November, 1810, and it was 
only in the month of May following, that he was enabled to 
set out from Baltimore for the new field of his apostolical 
labors. On the 22d of May they embarked from Pittsburg 
hi a flat-boat, chartered especially for the purpose. It 
contained, beside the Bishop and Father David, Mr. Fen- 
wick, M. Savine, a Canadian priest, a sub-deacon — M. Cha- 
brat, and a student. Father David had previousl}^ been 
appointed Superior of the Seminary; and though "his 
health was in as bad a condition as the Bishop's purse," yet 
he presided over all the spiritual exercises which were 
carried on as in a regularly organized seminary. " The boat 



BIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 15 

on which we descended the Ohio" — he subsequently wrote 
to a friend — ''became the cradle of our seminary and of 
the Church in Kentucky. Our cabin was, at the same time, 
chapel, dormitory, stud3^-room, and refectory. An altar 
was erected on the boxes, so far as circumstances would 
allow. The bishop prescribed a regulation, which fixed all 
the exercises, and in which each had its proper time. On 
Sunday, after prayer, every one went to confession ; then 
the priests said Mass, and the others went to communion. 
After an agreeable navigation of thirteen days, we arrived 
at Louisville, next at Bardstown, and finally at the ^sidence 
of the vicar-general." 

This residence was an old log house, now converted into 
the " Episcopal Palace ; " whilst another cabin harbored the 
seminarians, and Father David occupied a small addition 
to the principal building. There the seminary was con- 
ducted by him for five months, when in Xovember, 1811, it 
was removed to the present farm of St. Thomas, which 
a pious Catholic, Thomas Howard, had bequeathed to 
the. Church. Five years later the present neat church of 
St. Thomas was erected, and a brick building, intended for a 
Seminary, put up. The life of a Seminarian, in those da3\s, 
was rather fuller of hardships and privations, than it is at 
present. It is well described in a letter of Father Badin. 

" The seminarians made bricks, prepared the mortar, cut 
wood, etc., to build the church of St. Thomas, the seminary, 
and the convent of Xazareth. The poverty of our infant 
establishments compelled them to spend their recreations in 
labor. Ever}^ day they devoted three hours to labor in the 
garden, in the fields, or in the woods. Xothing could be 
more frugal than their table, which is also that of the two 
bishops, and in which water is their ordinary drink ; nothing, 
at the same time, could be more simple than their dress." 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

The young seminarians, indeed, corresponded well with 
the parental solicitude of their good superior. The}^ caught 
his spirit, and entered heartily into all his plans for their 
spiritual welfare. They united manual labor with study. 
They cheerfully submitted to lead a painful and laborious 
life, in order to fit themselves for the ministrj^, and to 
prepare themselves for the privations they were destined to 
endure on the missions. 

As superior of the seminar}^, Father David was a rigid 
disciplinarian. Both by word and by example he enforced 
exact regularity in all the exercises of the house. He was 
himself always amongst the first at every duty. Particularly 
was he indefatigable in discharging the duty of instructing 
the young candidates for the ministry in the suWime maxims 
of Christian perfection. He seemed never to grow weary 
of this occupation. A thorough master of the interior life 
himself, it was his greatest delight to conduct others into 
the same path of holiness. He was not satisfied with laying 
down general principles ; he entered into the most minute 
details, with a zeal equaled only by his patience. 

He sought to inspire the young seminarians with an 
ardent desire of aspiring to perfection, and of doing all 
their actions for the honor and glor}^ of God. To arouse 
and stimulate their zeal, he often dwelt on the sublime 
grandeur of the ministry, which he delighted to paint as. 
a cooperation with Christ for the salvation of souls. A 
favorite passage of the Holy Scripture with him, was that 
containing the * words of our blessed Lord to his apostles .- 
*' I have placed you, that you may go and bring forth fruit, 
and that your fruit may remain ; " * as also this other decla- 

^ St. John XV. 16. 



RIGHT REV. J0H:J^ B. DAVID. 17 

ration of the Saviour : " I have come to cast fire upon the 
earth, and what will I but that it be kindled ? " * 

The first fruits of his seminary he reaped on the 10th of 
May, 1818, when two of his pupils, natives of Kentucky, 
who had gone through the whole course of their studies 
under his direction, were raised to the dignity of the 
priesthood ; although others, who came from Europe, had 
previously been ordained at St. Thomas's — among them 
several Lazarists, belonging to the Diocese of New Orleans, 
who stayed nearly two years in the seminary of M. David» 
whom, on that account, we may justly s>ij\e the Father of 
the Clergy of the West. 

Though he sometimes rebuked faults with some severity, 
yet he had a tender and parental heart, which showed itself 
on all occasions. For all the seminarians he cherished 
feelings of paternal aifection. It was his greatest happiness 
to see them advance in learning and improve in virtue. 
He rejoiced with those who rejoiced, and wept with those 
who wept. No one ever went to him for advice and con- 
solation in vain. As a .confessor, few could surpass him in 
zeal, in patience, in tenderness. But what most won him 
the esteem, confidence and love of all under his charge, was 
his great sincerity and candor in every thing. All who 
were acquainted with him not only believed, but felt, that 
he was wholly incapable of deceiving them in the least 
thing. 

He was always even better than his word : he was sparing 
of promises, and lavish in his efforts to redeem them when 
made. If he rebuked the faults of others, he was free to 
avow his own ; and more than once have we heard him 
publicly acknowledging his imperfections, and w4th tears 

* St. Luke xii. 49. 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL jS^OTICE OF 

imploring pardon of those under his control for whatever 
pain he might unnecessarily have caused them. He was 
in the constant habit of speaking whatever he thought, 
without human respect or fear of censure from others. 
This frankness harmonized well with the open character of 
the Kentuckians, and secured for him, in their bosoms, an 
unbounded confidence and esteem. 

Those under his direction could not fail to profit by all 
this earnest zeal and devotedness to their welfare. They 
made rapid advances in the path of perfection, in which 
they were blessed with so able and laborious a guide. Even 
when he was snatched from their midst, they could not soon 
forget his lessons, nor lose sight of his example. 

We may say of him what he so ardently wished should 
be verified in others : that he " has brought forth fruit," and 
that " his fruit has remained." He has enkindled a fire in 
our midst, which the coldness and neglect of generations to 
come will not be able to quench. He has impressed his own 
earnest. spirit on the missions served by those whom his 
laborious zeal has reared. Sach are. some of the fruits pro- 
duced by this truly good man, with whose invaluable services 
God has pleased to bless our infant diocese. 

But these were not all, nor even one-half, of the fruits 
which he brought forth, and cultivated till they were ripe 
for Heaven. His zeal was not confined to the seminar}^, the 
labor of superintending which would have sufiiiced for any 
one man. He devoted all his moments of leisure to the 
exercise of the holy ministry among the Catholics living in 
the neighborhood of St. Thomas. He was for several jears 
the pastor of this congregation ; and, besides the church, he 
attended to several neighboring stations, on Thursdays, 
when his duties did not require his presence at the seminary. 
He also visited the congregation at Bardstown once a 



EIGHT EEV. JOHN B. DAVID. 19 

month. Constant labor was the atmosphere he breathed, 
and the very element in which he lived. He was most 
happy, when most occupied. During his long life, he» 
perhaps, spent as few idle hours as any other man that ever 
lived. 

Besides attending to the seminary and to the missions, 
Father David set about laying the foundation of another 
institution which was afterwards to become the ornament 
and pride of the diocese, and which was admirable even in 
its rude beginnings. We allude to the establishment of the 
Sisters of Charity in Kentucky, who justl}^ look up to him 
as their father and founder. 

The foundation of the Sisters of Charity in Kentucky 
dates back to the year 1812 ; one year and a half after the 
arrival of Bishop Flaget in his new diocese, and alx)ut 
twelve months after the Theological Seminary, under charge 
of Father David, had been removed from St. Stephen's to 
the flirm of St. Thomas. At this time, the excellent supe- 
rior of the seminary, with the advice and consent of Bishop 
Flaget, conceived the idea of founding a community of 
religious females, who, secluded from the world, might 
devote themselves wholly to the service of God and the good 
of their neighbors. 

So soon as the intentions of the bishop were known in 
the congregations of his diocese, there were found several 
ladies who professed a willingness to enter the establishment 
and to devote their lives to the objects which its projectors 
proposed. In November, 1812, two pious ladies of mature 
age, Sister Teresa Carico and Miss Elizabeth Wells took 
possession of a small log house, contiguous to the church 
of St. Thomas. Their house consisted of but one room 
below and one above, and a cabin adjoining, which served 
as a kitchen. They commenced their work of charity by 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

manufacturing clothing for those belonging to the seminary 
of St. Thomas, then in its infancy. 

On the 21st of January following, 1813, another member 
was added to the community, in the person of Sister Catha- 
rine Spalding. On the same day, the superior, Father 
David, presented to them the provisional rules which he 
had already drawn up, unfolding the nature, objects, and 
duties of the new society. On the same occasion, he also 
read, and fully explained to those present, an order of the 
day, which he had written out, for the regulation of the 
exercises of the community ; and this was still further 
organized by the temporary appointment of the oldest mem- 
ber as superior, until the society should be sufficiently 
numerous to proceed to a regular election, according to the 
provisions of the rule. 

In June of the same year, the sisters, being then six in 
number, made a spiritual retreat of seven days, under the 
direction of Father David ; and at the close of it, proceeded 
to the election of a superior, and of oflQcers, of their own 
body. Sister Catharine Spalding was chosen the first 
Mother Superior, Sister Harriet Gardiner, Mother's Assistant, 
and Sister Betsey Wells, Procuratrix. At this first election 
ever held in the societ}^ there w^ere present, Bishop Flaget, 
Father David, and Pie v. Gr. I. Chabrat. On that occasion the 
bishop made the sisters a very moving exhortation on the 
nature of the duties they were undertaking to perform, and 
on the obligations they contracted in embracing the religious 
life. The ceremony was closed with the episcopal benedic- 
tion. 

For two years the sisters continued to observe their 
provisional rule, patiently awaiting the decision of their 
bishop, and of their reverend founder, as to wdiat order or 
society they would associate themselves. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 21 

At length it was determined that they should embrace 
the rules of the Sisters of Charity, founded in France nearly 
two centuries before, by St. Vincent of Paul. A copy of 
these rules had been brought over to the United States, 
from France, by Bishop Flaget, at the request of Archbishop 
Carroll ; and the}^ had been already adopted, with some 
modifications to suit the country, by the religious society 
of Sisters of Charity, then lately established at Emmittsburg, 
Marjdand. Upon mature reflection, it was decided that 
the regulations of this excellent institute were more con- 
formable than any other to the views and intentions of the 
bishop and of Father David, as well as to the wishes and 
objects contemplated by the members of the new society. 

Father David continued to be the superior of the society 
for twenty years, when age and infirmity compelled him to 
retire from its management. He had watched over the 
infanc}^, find he lived to be cheered by the rapid growth and 
extended usefulness of the sisterhood. • 

Bishop Flaget cultivated so intimate a friendship with 
Father David, and found his services so indispensable for 
the welfare of his diocese, that he suffered the greatest 
anguish of soul whenever he had reason to fear that hi^ 
old and tried friend might be taken away from him. The 
episcopal sees of Philadelphia and of New Orleans had 
been successively offered to Father David, who declined 
them. But the bishop resolved to put, at once, an end to 
all apprehensions of this sort, and supplicated the Holy See 
to appoint Father David his coadjutor. This prayer met 
with the approbation of Pome. The bulls, constituting 
John Baptist David Bishop of Mauricastrum, in partihus 
ivfileUfim, and Coadjutor of the Bishop of Bardstown, were 
dated July 4th, 1817, and reached their destination on the 
25th of November. But whilst Bishop Flaget was rejoicing, 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

Father David was distressed and dejected. He considered 
himself not only unworthy of so high a distinction, and 
unfit for the episcopal office, but his tender conscience pre- 
sented to him also other obstacles, which did not allow him 
to accept the offered dignity. The bulls assigned, as reasons 
for giving the bishop a coadjutor, his age and infirmities, 
which applied still more strongly to Father David — being 
both older and of weaker health than the bishop. He com- 
municated his doubts to the Cardinal Prefect of the Propa- 
ganda, who answered in the name of the Holy Father, and 
earnestly advised him to accept, alleging that those clauses 
were a mere formality, and not to be interpreted in their 
strictest sense ; and that, moreover the^ Pope healed what- 
ever deficiencies might be supposed to exist in the premises. 

His consecration, however, did not .take place till August, 
1819. Bishop Flaget, meanwhile, made an excursion to 
Michigan and Canada ; from which he returned onlji after an 
absence of nearly fourteen months. But, besides these, there 
were other reasons which caused the delay. Father David 
was blessed Avith so much of that holy povert}^ which he 
was in the habit of extolling to others, tliat he had not 
wherewith to make the necessary preparations for his conse- 
cration.* He had no means of procuring the episcopal habili- 
ments, or other necessary articles for furnishing his episcopal 
chapel. His bishop was scarcely able to succor him in this 
emergency ; and he was compelled patiently to await the 
arrival of the necessary assistance from France. 

The ceremon}^ of his consecration took place in the new 
cathedral, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, on 
the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the 15th 

* He loved his poverty even unto death : he left no property 
behind him, and could bequeath nothing to his friends but his virtues. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 23 

of August, 1819, the octave of the consecration of the 
cathedral. Bishop Flaget was the consecrator ; and, having 
been unable to procure the attendance of any other prelate,** 
he was assisted, on the occasion, by two among the oldest 
clergymen of the diocese. 

After his consecration. Father David changed in nothing 
his former manner of life. He was still the plain, humble, 
and mortified man of prayer ; the same regular, zealous, 
and indefatigable minister of Grod. From this time his zeal 
seemed to have received a new impulse ; he now belonged 
more entirely to God, and his whole energies were to be 
consecrated still more fully, if possible, to the good of reli- 
gion and to the salvation of souls. Living in the midst of his 
seminarians and clergy, eating at the same table, and joining 
with them in every exercise, he was at once the father and 
the model of both clergy and people. Into the former he 
labored unceasingly to infuse the true spirit of the ecclesias- 
tical state ; in the later he spared no pains to build up the 
sublime edifice of the Christian life. 

One thing that he inculcated with particular force on the 
minds of his young clergy, was a zeal for the decency of 
divine worship. He was very fond of the rubrics^ in which 
he was thoroughly versed. He trained the seminarians to 
an exact observance of all the ceremonies prescribed in the 
Eoman missal, ceremonial and ritual, as fully explained in 
the copious and admirable decisions of the Roman Congrega- 
tion of Kites. He employed every effort to promote this 
exact observance ; and his zeal was aroused at the omission 
or improper performance of the least ceremony. In his 
instructions to the seminarians, he often dwelt in great detail 
on this branch of ecclesiastical education. 

From his earliest youth, he had cherished and cultivated 

:he natural taste for music with which he had been blessed. 
3 



24 BIOORAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

He loved the grave severity of the venerable Gregorian 
chant, and could not brook the slightest departure from it in 
the Church of God. He spared no labor to form the choir 
of the cathedral ; and for many years, he himself acted as 
organist and leader of the choir. His greatest delight seemed 
to be to unite vrith others in singing the praises of God, in 
that simple and soul-stirring melody, handed down to us by 
our fathers in the faith. 

After he had been consecrated bishop, he discharged, for 
many years, the office of chief pastor of the cathedral ; 
although he even then would not refuse to perform the hum- 
ble functions of organist and leader of the choir on solemn 
occasions, when Bishop Flaget officiated pontifically. The 
ceaseless labors required by this triple charge of superior of 
the seminary, superior of the Sisters of Charity, and coad- 
jutor bishop of the diocese, did not prevent him from 
devoting much of his time to the exercise of the holy min- 
istry in the congregation of St. Joseph's. He visited the 
sick and the poor, he preached, he heard confessions, he gave 
spiritual instructions, he administered the sacraments, with 
indefatigable zeal. He lost not a moment of his precious 
time. 

As a preacher, though not naturally very eloquent, he was 
eminently successful in imparting his own ideas and spirit 
to his hearers. His sermons were plain, solid, well connected, 
closely reasoned, and full of wholesome instruction. Every 
one saw, in the plain earnestness of his manner, that he was 
himself fully convinced of, and deeply imbued with, the 
holy truths and maxims which he unfolded. 

But it was in the confessional that his zeal abounded 
most ; and it was there that his success was most signalized. 
He there made an impression which time and the oblivious 
tendency of poor human nature could not soon obliterate. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 25 

His numerous penitents yet remember and profit by the 
instructions which they there received. And long and grate- 
fully will the congregation of St. Joseph's treasure up the 
lessons enforced by the example of their oldest and most 
warmly cherished pastor. 

He manifested as much zeal for the maintenance of the 
faith, as for the preservation of morals. As a controvertist, 
he was clear, solid, logical, learned, thorough, and convincing. 
These characters appeared both in his sermons and in his 
controversial writings. 

Shortly after he had been consecrated bishop, a Presby- 
terian preacher by the name of Hall, who then resided in 
Springfield, was in the habit of visiting Bardstown for the 
purpose of attacking the Catholics, whose numbers were 
then greatly increasing, while their institutions were spring- 
ing up about this town. He was a'man of strong frame and 
of stentorian lungs, and as bitter and violent in his denun- 
ciations, as he was confident and reckless in his assertions. 
He was gifted with a certain stormy eloquence, which made 
an impression on those with whom declamation passes for 
argument, and assertions for proof. 

Father David had been explaining, in the cathedral, in a 
series of discourses, various points of Catholic doctrine, and, 
among others, that which regards the use of and relative respect 
paid to relics and images. The bitter attacks of the preacher 
on Catholic doctrines, had induced him to undertake this 
course of explanatory and defensive lectures on the various 
points impugned or misrepresented. Preacher Hall gave out 
that, on a certain day, he would preach in the court-house 
of Bardstown, on this same subject of images, and would 
prove the Catholic Church guilty of gross idolatry. 

Though much averse to oral discussion, which seldom 
ends in any thing except a widening of the breach, and the 



26 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

greater imbittering of prejudice, yet Father David felt com- 
pelled, under all the circumstances of the case, to meet the 
reverend preacher, and to answer his objections. Bishop 
Flaget took so lively an interest in the movement, that he 
ordered public prayers to be offered up in the cathedral, to 
obtain victory for the truth, and also as some reparation for 
the blasphemies which would, no doubt, be uttered by the 
preacher against holy persons and things, especially against 
the Blessed Sacrament. A large concourse of people were 
in attendance on the appointed day ; and Mr. Hall opened 
the discussion with a discourse of two hours in length, in 
which he gave full play to his lungs, and a wide range to 
the subject he brought up as matter of accusation against 
Roman Catholics. 

When he had concluded. Father David arose, and in a 
calm, solid, temperate, and argumentative discourse of about 
the same length, answered the minister's objections, and laid 
down the grounds of the Catholic faith and practice on the 
subject of images. His discourse made a deep impression 
on his hearers, which was not destroyed by the declamatory 
rejoinder of the preacher. Father David wished to bring 
him to close quarters, and to reduce the discussion to a sim- 
ple and logical form ; but the preacher refused this, and also 
another request — to reduce his objections to writing, that the 
bishop might be able to answer them in the same way. 
After having tired out the audience in his long rejoinder, 
Mr. Hall abruptly dismissed the meeting. 

There was, of course, a diversity of opinion as to the 
merits of the discussion, according to the respective religious 
tenets or prejudices of the hearers. But many intelligent 
Protestants were heard to praise the calm manner and solid 
reasoning of Father David : and a very talented Protestant 
lawyer, on being asked his opinion of the debate, remarked, 



MGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 27 

quaintly and pointedly : " That while Bishop David was 
preaching, the admirers of Mr. Hall looked like owls when 
the sun was shining." 

Circumstances not having allowed him fully to answer 
the objections made in the second discourse of Mr. Hall, 
Father David resolved to give, in writing, a plain statement 
and a temperate defence of the Catholic doctrine on the 
subject of images and relics. Another motive for this publi- 
cation was the wish to spread before the whole reading com- 
munity, most of whom had not been able to attend the 
discussion, the whole matter in controversy. This he did 
in a pamphlet of sixty-four pages, entitled "Vindication of 
the Catholic Doctrine concerning the Use and Veneration 
of Images, the Honor and Invocation of Saints, and the 
Keeping and Honoring of their Relics.'' • ^ 

This pamphlet exhausted the subject, and presented an 
unanswerable array of evidence on the articles in controversy. 
Mr. Hall published a " Reply," which drew forth from Father 
David another pamphlet of a hundred and six pages, entitled, 
" Defence of the Vindication of the Catholic Doctrine con- 
cerning the Use and Veneration of Images, etc., in Answer 
to the * Reply' of Rev. Nathan Hall." The minister did 
not attempt a reply to this publication, which accordingly 
closed the controversy, leaving Father David master of the 
field. 

About the same time Father David published his cele- 
brated " Address to his Brethren of other Professions, on the 
Rule of Faith," a pamphlet of fifty-six pages, remarkable for 
its clear and logical method, its temperate spirit, and its 
unanswerable reasoning. Preacher Hall had delivered a 
discourse on the same subject in the court-house at Bards- 
town ; and Father David had sent him, by a young divine, 
a series of questions on the subject, which he had declined 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

» 
answering. In the " Address," these questions are taken up 
and discussed with the thoroughness which marks every- 
thing from the pen of Father David. It is, in a brief com- 
pass, one of the best arguments we have ever seen on the 
subject ; and we may here express a hope, that this and other 
controversial writings will be shortly republished. 

Controversy was not the only subject on which Father 
David wrote. He had already composed and published in 
Baltimore, the " True Piety," one of the best of our books 
of devotion.* In 1815 he published a "Catholic Hymn 
Book," which was followed, ten years later, by the " Cate- 
chism of the Diocese of Bardstown, printed by authority of the 
Right Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown." 
It was considered one of the best books of the kind ; and, 
like every thing that came from the pen of Father David, 
enjoyed great popularity, especially among the Catholics of 
Kentucky. Being rather more comprehensive than most 
other catechisms, it is well calculated to impart a thorough 
instruction to lay persons. At a later period in life, he 
wrote several very solid articles for the Metropolitan Maga- 
zine, published in Baltimore ; and when old age and infirmity 
compelled him to retire from the active duties of the min- 
istry, he employed his time in translating various spiritual 
works of Saint Liguori, and of Bellarmine. The last trans- 
lation he made, was that of Bellermine's beautiful little 
work " On the Felicity of the Saints." This was a fore- 
shadowing, in his own mind and heart, of those blessed reali- 
ties of heavenly bliss which he was soon to taste. 

During all the time of which we are treating, the bishops 

* This Prayer Book, like maDj other works, has since been 
improved for the worse ; and Father David was wont to call the new 
editions, with a smile, the false ^' True Pieties." 



RiaHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 29 

lived in common with their seminarians, and, on every 
Sunday and festival, appeared at the head of their clergy in 
all the services of the cathedral. We can not recall those 
happy days without a feeling of pride and of happiness. Ko 
one, who has seen the venerable patriarch of the West oflB- 
ciating in his cathedral, can ever forget the impression then 
made on his mind. ■ 

For more than sixteen years he continued to be the 
superior of the theological seminary which he had founded, 
and over the welfare of which he had watched with sleepless 
vigilance. His declining years and increasing duties now 
compelled him to resign this charge, and to commit the des- 
tinies of the institution to younger hands. Still, he con- 
tinued to manifest an interest in its welfare, and to devote to 
the spiritual benefit of the seminarians all the tirne he could 
spare from his other duties. He delighted to give retreats ; 
and he had written out an admirable course of meditations 
for this purpose. His coadjutorship he resigned in the year 
1833, when he was succeeded by the Right Rev. Dr. Cha- 
brat. 

He continued faithful to all his spiritual exercises, as 
well as laborious and indefatigable in his duties, to his last 
breath. The evening of his life was spent in constant prep- 
aration for death. As when in the evening the sun, after 
sinking below the horizon, tinges with beautiful and varied 
colors the clouds which hang over the western sky, so also, 
in the evening of his life, the gathering clouds of sickness 
and of death were lighted up by the sun of another world, 
which faith opened to his view ! 

He died as he had lived. On the 12th of July, 1841, he 
quietly breathed his last, at Nazareth, the sisters of which 
institution had watched over him with tender solicitude 
during his last illness. He was interred in their cemetery. 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

He had reached the eighty-first year of his hfe, the fifty-sixth 
of his priesthood, and the twenty-second of his episcopacy. 

It is not necessary for us to pronounce his eulogy. To 
those who knew him, this were unnecessary : and to those 
who were not personally acquainted with him, the facts con- 
tained in this sketch will suffice to give some insight into his 
character. 

Sincerity and candor in all things, were, perhaps, the 
most distinctive traits in his character. He was what he 
appeared to be. He had less of human respect than is 
usually found among men. He always told j^ou plainly what 
he thought ; and you might rely upon the sincerity of his 
opinion, as much as on the soundness of his judgment. He 
was also, as we have already remarked, entirely consistent 
with his own principles. If he taught prompt obedience to 
others, he always practiced it himself, no matter how much 
pain it cost him ; and this even after he had been consecrated 
bishop. If he was somewhat rigid towards others, he was 
much more stern to himself. He never sought to impose 
upon others a burden which he did not cheerfully bear him- 
self. 

Of the severe discipline to which he subjected his nature, 
we have an instance which is too precious to be here omitted. 
We find it recorded in the manuscript journal of Bishop 
Flaget. In August, 1823, the Bishop of Bardstown held a 
synod, in which all his clergy took part, and discussed dif- 
ferent points of ecclesiastical discipline. By an excusable 
oversight. Bishop Flaget forgot to ask, at the debate of the 
first question, the opinion of Bishop David, who, being natur- 
ally of a hasty temper, was, by this seeming neglect, so much 
oifended, that he, when consulted on a subsequent question, 
refused to have any thing at all to do with the business before 
the synod. Bishop Flaget apologized, and begged, publicly, 



/ 

RIGHT REV. JOHN B. DAVID. 31 

pardon for the want of respect that was imputed to him. 
But Father David unfortunat6ly let the sun go down upon 
his anger, to the great mortification of his old friend. But 
the next morning brought better counsel : " We had hardly 
sat down to begin the second session, when Bishop David 
came up, threw himself on his knees before me, and in this 
humble posture begged my pardon for the scandal which he 
had given the day before. The sight of this learned and 
venerable old gentleman, kneeling before all the clergy and 
his bishop, to repair, with such edification, a slight, indelib- 
erate fault, filled me with admiration, and made me nearly 
forget to request him to rise. All the priests who were 
present entered into the same sentiments, which animated 
me, and were now so much more edified, as they had con- 
sidered him incapable of an act of such heroic humility. 
Bishop David has since told me, that it was Eev. Mr. Deri- 
gaud who had the courage and charity to inform him that 
his conduct during the first session had been a great scandal 
to all who witnessed it. Convinced of the happy results of 
this greatest of virtues, I thanked God for having permitted 
these aberrations in the two bishops, in order to let his glory 
shine with greater brightness, and to procure in the clergy 
of Kentucky, an example of the greatest edification.'' 

Father David was laborious, and always occupied in doing 
something useful. He never lost a moment in idleness. He 
was as regular in all his habits, and as punctual to all his 
exercises and appointments, as he was industrious and inde- 
fatigable. Regularity became a second nature to him. And 
this accounts for the great labors he was able to undergo, and 
the immense good he was the instrument of effecting. We 
can, in no other way, explain how he was able to fulfill so 
many seemingly incompatible duties, and how he could find 
time for all his employments. 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

Gifted in an eminent degree with the spirit of prayer, he 
was always united with God, in all his actions. He labored 
not for men, but for God ; not for earth, but for Heaven. 
His ambition aspired to a heavenly crown of unfading glory — 
he spurned all else. 

In one word, he was the faithful fellow-laborer of Bishop 
riaget, the founder of the seminary and of the Sisterhood 
of Charity in Kentucky, and the father and model of our 
clergy and people. In their memory and in their hearts is 
his monument reared, and his epitaph written in indelible 
characters — he needs none other ! 



EIGHT DAYS' RETREAT. 

BY THE LATE 
RIGHT REV. BISHOP DAVID. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ON THE NATUEE AND OBJECTS 



SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, 



MANNER OF PERFORMINa THEM WITH FRUIT. 



St. Igi^atius of Loyola, the author of the Exer- 
cises and the founder of Spiritual Retreats, 
describes their nature and objects in the follow- 
ing compendious, but comprehensive words, 
placed as a title at the head of his golden little 
book : 

" ExERCiTiA Spieitualia, per quae homo diri- 
gitur ut yincere seipsum possit, et vitse suae 
rationem, determinatione a noxiis aifectibus libera, 
instituere — Spiritual Exercises, by which a 
man is directed how he may conquer himself 

(35) 



io-c^ 



36 INTRODUCTION. 

and may establish his manner of life, with a 
determination free from noxious affections." 

Under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, in 
the lonely grotto of Manresa, the late soldier of 
an earthly monarch went successfully througli 
his own training as a soldier of the Cross ; and 
in his Book of Exercises he sets forth, with great 
simplicity and unction, the leading points of this 
spiritual drill, by which himself was converted' 
fi'om a sinner into a saint. Those who would 
wish to attain his generous self-devotion and his 
sanctity, should weigh well his words, and care- 
fully mark the different stages of the spiritual 
combat through which he so triumphantly passed. 
From the words of the title above given we 
may readily infer the real nature and the true 
objects of a spiritual Retreat, according to his 
ideal so strongly inforced by his own example. 

L THE NATURE AND OBJECTS OF THE 
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES. 

1. The very term Spiritual Exercises implies, 
that active exertion of the mind and heart 
belongs to the nature and the very essence of a 
Retreat. This consists in a series of spiritual 
operations, by which all the faculties of the soul 
and affections of the heart are brought into 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

active and healthy play, for a specific spiritual 
object. They comprise meditation, contempla- 
tion, and rigid self-examination, followed by 
corresponding afiections and resolutions. The 
understanding, as the nobler faculty, leads the 
way, and, by meditation on the eternal truths 
and on the law of God, sheds a flood of heavenly 
light on our darksome pathw^ay ; the heart fol- 
lows, with its corresponding emotions and aflfec- 
tions ; and the will terminates the process, by 
suitable resolutions firmly and strongly made. 
Man thus struggles on in the spiritual way, with 
all his powers and faculties on the alert ; but 
man is weak and of himself powerless; and 
God accordingly cometh to his succor in his hour 
of conflict, and by throwing around his strug- 
gling infirmity the panoply of His omnipotent 
strength, completeth the work, and giveth to him 
the victory. Thus the divine element is hap- 
pily combined with the human, and the result is, 
a lifting of weak man above himself, thus assur- 
ing him the victory over his perverse nature and 
headlong passions. 

Exercise is as essential to the health of the 
soul as it is to that of the body. A condition 
of habitual quiescence and stagnation were 
fatal to the health of both. And as in bodily 
exercise, we sometimes walk slowly and wearily, 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

dragging our members along; sometimes step 
forthwith cheerful alacrity, traversing the ground 
with rapid movement, unmindful of interposing 
obstacles; and sometimes even run forward 
eagerly towards the goal to be attained: so it is 
with those who perform their Spiritual Exer- 
cises. Some enter upon and perform them with 
weariness and reluctance, with a sensible aver- 
sion to all mental and spiritual exertion, which 
they feel almost too faint-hearted to overcome ; 
others undertake them with cheerful generosity, 
distrusting themselves, but firmly relying on 
God's help, by the aid of which they walk for- 
ward rapidly and with alacrity in the way of the 
divine commandments; while others, finally, 
forgetting the past and extending themselves 
forward to that which is before them, gird them- 
selves, like giants, to run the race, and fixing 
their eyes steadily upon the goal, think no exer- 
tion and no sacrifice too great, provided they 
can but bear away the prize and win the crown 
of immortality. At the very outset of these 
holy Exercises we must decide, to which of these 
three classes we wish to belong. Upon this 
preliminary determination the whole fruit of 
our Retreat will in a great measure depend. 
2. The object of these exercises is twofold: 



INTEODUCTION. 39 

1. To conquer ourselves; 2. To establish and 
enter upon a new rule of life for the future. 

Our nature, tainted in its very origin by the 
sin of our first parents, is averse to good and 
prone to evil. It is constantly drifting down the 
current of evil incHnations towards the gulf of 
perdition. In the spmtual combat, then, we 
must constantly labor and toil to stem the cur- 
rent, if we would ascend and not descend. We 
can not lie idly by our oars ; the moment we 
cease to struggle and toil, we will be borne 
downwards; not to advance is to fall back. 
Hence the necessity of conquering ourselves, 
if we would be victorious in the constantly 
recurring war of the spirit against the flesh. 
Says our blessed Lord: "K any one will come 
after Me, let him deny himself^ take up Ms cross, 
and follow Me." Whosoever hath not well 
studied this lesson of self-denial, whosoever 
hath not learned in the school of the Crucified 
to conquer himself, is unworthy to be even 
called a disciple of Christ : he is no soldier of 
the Cross; he is faint-hearted, a craven, and a 
coward. The one who makes a Eetreat, without 
earnestly seeldng to conquer himself, will either 
lose his time or spend it with very slight profit. 

After having effectually labored to overcome 
our evil nature, we must seek to adopt such 
4 



40 mTRODUCTION. 

practical means as the Spirit of God will indi- 
cate to us to be the more suitable for the prac- 
tical reformation of our lives. We must walk 
in newness of life, after having risen from the 
tomb of darkness, sin, and spiritual death. To 
conceive sentiments of sorrow for sin and of 
love for virtue, to be filled with holy affections, 
and goodly purposes for the future, is all well 
enough so far as it goes; but mere emotions 
of the heart and general resolutions of amend- 
ment are not sufficient to accomplish the object 
of the Eetreat, which is a solid and thorough 
reformation of our lives. Our resolutions must 
be definite and specific, not vague and general. 
We must lay the axe at the root of the tree of 
our evil nature, and sternly lop off its branches, 
or even cut it down, if it will not bring forth 
firuit worthy of penance. By diligent and unspar- 
ing self-examination, we must, with God's aid, 
discover our predominant passion, with the 
occasions or causes which have induced our 
repeated falls; and having found it out, we 
must cast to the winds all human respect, rid 
ourselves of all "hoxious affections," and sternly 
take such resolutions as will be the most effec- 
tual to avert danger in the fiiture, and to insure 
a solid amendment. 

The Exercises of St. Ignatius are admirably 



VA 



i]NrriiODucTiON. 41 

adapted for the accomplishment of this blessed 
result of spiritual reformation. They run in a 
series, with more than human connexion, se- 
quence, and logic, and they all tend towards the 
same end — to reform our lives by first enlight- 
ening our understanding. The light of God 
shining broadly and brightly on the conclusions 
of human reasoning ; the grace of God giving 
strength to human purpose, and the wliisperings 
of the Comforter in the saddened heart, filling 
it with sweet consolation and making it sigh after 
heavenly things : these are admirably combined 
divine and human elements in the great work 
of man's reformation. 

Like a wise architect, St. Ignatius begins with 
the foundation of the spiritual edifice, which he 
plants deepl}^ and solidly; then he proceeds with 
the super-structure, which he works out in all 
its elaborate harmony of detail; nor pauses, till 
the temple of the Holy Ghost has been completed 
and secured against the rains and storms of 
temptation, and till it lifts its graceful pinnacles 
towards the heavenly Jerusalem. The work is 
begun amid tears and with wearing labor and 
fatigue; it is prosecuted with assiduous toil, 
relieved by the refi-eshments of divine grace; it 
is perfected in divine love, which sweetens and 



42 INTRODUCTION. 

crowns all — as the complement and fulfillment 
of the law. 

The work on the spiritual structure is divided 
into four Stages, or Weeks, each having its appro- 
priate duties and objects. During the first 
Week, we lay the foundation, by meditating on, 
and deeply impressing on our minds, the great 
fundamental truth or priuGiple^ that we were 
created by God and for God, who is thus our 
first beginning and our last end; which once 
attained, all is gained, once lost, all is lost, and 
lost forever! All other things placed on this 
earth are, therefore, to be esteemed or rejected 
precisely and only in proportion as they lead us 
towards the great end of our creation, or turn 
us away from its attainment ; and looking singly 
to the end, we are to school our minds and 
hearts to a state of holy indifference as to all else. 

The only real and unmitigated evil, because 
the only one which can deprive us of our only 
real good, and last end, is sin : hence, we must 
detest and abhor sin, and fly from its very shadow^, 
as from the hissings of the serpent, who seduced 
our first mother. To aid us in conceiving this 
holy horror of sin, not merely in general, but 
also particularly, as it exists in our own souls.^ 
blighting them by its pestilent breath, w^e next 
meditate on the eternal truths, on death, judg- 



INTRODUCTION. 4:3 

ment, and hell, thus seeking to strike terror into 
our own hearts in view of the awful chastise- 
ments awaiting our manifold sins, unless they 
be pardoned by the divine mercy. The fruit, 
then, of this first Week's exercises, is a firm 
determination to labor earnestly for our last end, 
and to abhor and avoid sin as the only obstacle 
to its attainment. This is the way of jpiirifiGa- 
tion — the Via Purgativa. 

Having advanced thus far, we are prepared 
to enter upon the way of enlightenment in the 
second Week — the Via lUuminaUva, After 
we have been purified from sin, Jesus Christ, our 
blessed Saviour, comes to us to set up His holy 
Kingdom in our hearts, to teach us the princi- 
ples of humility, meekness, mortification, and 
disengagement from the world, upon which it 
is founded, and to make us know and feel in our 
inmost souls, that He is for us truly, " the Way, 
the Truth, and the Life." We are enlightened, 
and we are moved, by the appeals and by the 
example of so great and so good a Leader, and 
in the fullness of our hearts we cry out : " O 
Lord! I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou 
goest!" This is the practical fi^uit of the exer- 
cises of the second Week. 

In the third, we advance still another stage. 
We enter upon the way of strength — the Via 



44 ' ' INTRODUCTION. 

ConfirmMiva. Meditating upon the passion 
and death of Christ, whom we have ah'eady 
chosen for our Leader and King, we endeavor 
to catch somewhat of that superhuman devoted- 
ness, heroism, and love, which made Him a wil- 
ling Victim for our sins, made Him die, that we 
might live. Can we look upon that meek and 
patient Sufferer — for our sakes — without con- 
ceiving some sentiment of the noble generosity 
which prompted Him, for the love of us, to be 
obedient even unto death, the death of the 
Cross ! Can we consent to be over dainty and 
delicate members under a Head crowned with 
thorns ? Can we weakly and ingloriously give 
away to the blandishments of the world and of 
the flesh, when He spurned the world and gave 
up His flesh to the bloody executioners, for the 
love of us ? Courage, then, generosity, wilUng- 
ness to suffer and to die, if need be, for Christ 
who died for us, a determination to cast away 
all softness and luxury and to enlist henceforth 
as willing and generous soldiers of the Cross : 
these are the fruits we must gather during the 
third Week of the Exercises. 

This fi-arne of mind and heart prepares us 
for the glorious termination and consummation 
of the Exercises in the fourth Week, wherein 
we enter upon the highest, the holiest, and the 



INTRODUCTION. ' 4:5 

sweetest way, the way of Union with God by 
Love — the Via Unitiva. After meditating on 
the glorious Resurrection of Christ, by which 
He left all His sorrows in the tomb, and entered 
upon a new hfe wliich should know death no 
more forever, we contemplate His triumi3hant 
Ascension into Heaven, and view Him sitting 
there in glory at the right hand of His Father, 
surrounded by millions of Angels and of ran- 
somed souls; and then we exultingly break 
forth into those sweet emotions of that divine 
love, which is the chief joy of Heaven, as it is 
the chief duty of earth. Sursum Corda — Lift 
up your hearts ! It is a happy, a glorious con- 
summation! Jesus entered Heaven, that He 
might therein prepare a place for us ! He is our 
Head, we are His members ; where He is, there 
shall we also be forever more ! Sweet and con- 
soling thought! What are the sorrows and suf- 
ferings of this fleeting life, when compared with 
the cumulative glory, the abounding happiness, 
and the eternal bliss which await us in Heaven ! 
I will then bear all the ills of life with cheerful- 
ness and love, buoyed up by this blessed hope ! 
I will do all for the divine love, knowing that 
God will requite me more than a hundred fold. 
The love of God — a love to pervade all my 



4G INTRODUCTION. 

actions on earth and to be blissfully consum- 
mated in Heaven — this is the practical fruit of 
the Exercises of this fourth and last Week of 
the Ketreat. 

A learned and pious Jesuit father, who, 
some thirtjT^ years ago, gave more than one 
Retreat to the students of the Propaganda Col- 
lege in Rome, was in the habit of illustrating 
the nature and practical fruit of each Week's 
Exercises by phrases borrowed from the school- 
men, more remarkable for their terse significance 
than for their elegant Latinity. They are given 
here without commentary, as from what has just 
been said, they speak for themselves, and may 
besides be hereafter referred to in the proper 
places : 

I. Deformata Reformare — to reform what 
is deformed (by Sin). 

II. Reformata Conformare — to conform 
(to Christ's example) what has been reformed, 

III. CONFORMATA CONTIRMARE to confirm^ 

or strengthen (by the Passion of Christ) what 
has been corformed, 

IV. CoNFiRMATA Transformare — to trans- 
form (by divine love) what has been confirmed. 

Though according to the original plan of 
St. Ignatius, four full Weeks were to be employed 
in the Exercises by those who wished to perform 



INTRODUCTION. 47 

them thoroughly, yet they may be, and they 
usually are contracted into a much shorter 
space of time. Some now make a Retreat of 
ten, some of eight, and some of only seven or 
even six fall days. In such cases, the Director 
will distribute the Exercises according to the 
time and circumstances. But, however short 
may be the time employed, the fruit of each 
successive Week may and should be gathered 
before passing on to the next. The first Week, 
comprising, as it does, the foundation, and the 
rising of the soul from the darkness of sin to 
the light of grace, is the most important, and its 
exercises are therefore less susceptible of 
abridgment than those which follow; all of 
these, however, as we have seen, are important 
for the completion of the edifice of Christian 
virtue and perfection. The Director will settle 
all these details, according to circumstances and 
persons. We must pass now to the second 
part. 

11. HOW AEE WE TO PERFORM THE EXER- 
CISES WITH FRUIT. 

To accomphsh this object, which should be 
so very desirable to all who make a Retreat, 
the following practical rules, laid down by the 
5 



48 mTRODUCTION. 

masters of the spiritual life, should be carefully 
and scrupulously observed: — 

1. The first disposition necessary for perform- 
ing the Exercises with fruit is, to persuade our- 
selves of their importance and necessity for us. 
The more we penetrate ourselves with this con- 
viction, the better will we perform this Retreat, 
to which God has called us in His mercy for our 
own spiritual profit, and perhaps for our salva- 
tion, which without it may be greatly endangered. 
Perhaps this is the last Retreat we may ever be 
allowed to make ; therefore we should not fail 
to make it well, with our whole hearts and souls, 
with undivided attention and unflagging interest. 

2. In entering upon our Retreat, we should 
be fully impressed with the true nature and real 
objects of the holy Exercises, as above set forth, 
in order that we may adhere strictly to the plan 
of salvation which they unfold, may not lose our 
time by efforts foreign to them, and may thus, 
with God's help, attain the great object which 
they contemplate — the reformation of our own 
lives. The more we understand and adhere to 
the letter and spirit of the Exercises, the more 
fruit we shall derive fi^om them. 

3. "Tlie person in Retreat will find every 
thing easy, and himself wonderfully assisted by 
grace, if from the beginning he brings to God 



INTRODUCTION. 49 

A LARGE AND GENEROUS HEART; if lie abaiiclons 
himself, with all his wishes and all his liberty, 
to the action of his Creator; if he is disposed 
to allow his Sovereign Lord to order him, and 
all that concerns him, according to His good 
pleasure." 

4. To make our Retreat well, we should 
employ two weapons essential to yictory in the 
spiritual combat — distrust of ourselves, and 
confidence in God. Each of these sentiments 
should be carried to the furthest possible limits ; 
there is no danger of exaggeration or excess in 
either, as it is impossible to trust too little in our- 
selves or too much in God. 

5. We should be careful to let each Exercise, 
as it comes up, stand for itself, neither dwelling 
upon the past nor anticipating the future. Age 
quod agis — do what you do — should be our 
motto. By concentrating our entire attention 
upon the particular exercise before us, we shall 
be disposed to receive its full impression upon 
our minds and our hearts ; and thus derive Jfrom 
the entire series that cumulative fruit which 
God designs to bestow upon the generous one 
who makes his Retreat well and thoroughly, and 
with a single ej^e to his own improvement. 

6. Remembering that the chief object of the 
Retreat is the effectual reformation of our lives. 



50 INTRODUCTION. 

we should be careful to make well our daily 
examinations of conscience, both general and 
particular, according to the method laid down 
by St. Ignatius, which will be found in the 
proper place in this compilation. The more 
strictly we adhere to this method, the more fruit 
will we derive from our Retreat. 

7. For the same end, we should be particular 
in preparing ourselves to make a good confession, 
including a review of our conduct since our last 
Retreat, or a general confession of our whole 
life, if our spiritual Director advise us to do so. 
This confession should be completed at the close 
of the first, or in the beginning of the second 
Week of the Exercises. 

8. Another most important point is, to make 
proper resolutions for the amendment of our 
lives. These should be definite and to the point, 
not vague and general. They should strike at 
the root of our predominant vice, which the 
Spirit of God has enabled us to discover during 
the Retreat. In general, it is advisable that 
they be few in number, in order that the atten- 
tion to our reformation may not be weakened 
or rendered ineffective by being divided among 
too many objects. It is also recommended, that 
they should be written out, as a memorial of the 
Retreat, and to enable us to renew them at 



mTRODUCTION. 51 

stated times. In cases of doubt as to the par- 
ticular resolutions to be taken, we may profitably 
consult our Director. 

9. We should peruse attentively and study 
thoroughly the Ten Additional Recommenda- 
tions of St. Ignatius, which will be found in the 
proper place. They contain practical advice 
and minute details, dictated by the Spirit of God, 
which will be of great service to us in making 
the Retreat well. 

10. The Exercises of each Week, as has been 
already intimated, should be continued until the 
proper fruit will have been gathered therefrom. 
The length of time employed and the number 
of Exercises performed are not so important, as 
the impression to be made on the mind and 
heart, and the practical fruit to be derived for 
the emendation of our Hves. For those who 
make a Retreat of only six full days, the Director 
must decide which of the Meditations in the 
first and second Weeks, can best be omitted; 
but we would suggest that, in all cases, those on 
the Following of Christ, the Two Standards, and 
the Prodigal Son should be retained. The Medi- 
tations of the third and fourth Weeks, embra- 
cing, as they do in the following series, but one 
day each, can not well be omitted or even 
abridged. 



52 INTRODUCTION. 

11. Finally, we should, at the beginning and 
during the continuance of the Retrea?t, fervently 
invoke our Guardian Angels, our Patron Saints, 
and particularly the Immaculate Virgin, our 
tender, sweet, and holy Mother in Heaven, under 
whose powerful patronage we should place the 
entire fruit of the Exercises. God will not fail 
to crown with His most abundant blessing what- 
ever we will undertake under the auspices of 
Mary, whom He loved and honored so highly as 
to make her the Mother of His Only Begotten 
and Well Beloved Son. The Memorare of 
St. Bernard, recited frequently and fervently, 
will fill us mth great consolation, and bring down 
into our souls the most precious graces. We 
can scarcely exceed in the confidence we may 
repose in the intercession of the Holy Virgin. 



IVIETHOD OF MENTAL PRAYEK. 53 

METHOD OF MENTAL PEAYER. 

BY BISHOP DAVID. 



CHAPTER I. 
OF MENTAL PRAYER IN GENERAL. 

Question. What is Mental Prayer ? 

AxswER. Mental Prayer is a raising up and an 
application of our mind and heart to God, in order 
to render Him our homage and adoration; to 
ask His aid in our necessities, and to improve 
ourselves in virtue for His honor and glory. 

Q. Is Mental Prayer necessary ? 

A. Yes, as necessary as it is to render God 
homage and adoration, and to beg His assistance 
in our wants. 

Q. How many parts are there in Mental Prayer? 

A. Three parts, viz.: The Preparation, the 
Meditation, and the Conclusion. 

CHAPTER II. 
OF THE PREPARATION. 

Q. How many kinds of preparation are required ? 

A. Two kinds; viz.: The Habitual and the 
ActuaL 

Q. How are we to be habitually prepared for Mental - 
Prayer ? 

A. First, by purity of heart; second, by 
interior and exterior recollection; and, third, 
by purity of intention. 



54 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

Q. What do you mean by purity of heart ? 

A. I mean, first, to be clear of all mortal sin; 
second, to be fi^ee from all affections to venial 
sin ; and, third, to be disengaged from all irregu- 
lar attachment to creatures. 

Q. What do you mean by interior recollection ? 
A. I mean an habitual attention to God and 
a facility for self-consideration. 

Q. What do you mean by exterior recollection ? 

A. I mean the love and practice of silence 
and retirement, and a great care to avoid the 
causes of dissipation. 

Q. What are the chief causes of dissipation ? 
A. A vain curiosity, liberty of the senses, idle 
conversation, frequenting the world, etc. 

Q. What do you mean by purity of intention ? 

A. I mean a sincere desire of seeking in Men- 
tal Prayer singly the glory of God, and our own 
advancement in virtue. 

Q. In what does the actual preparation consist ? 
A. The actual preparation is either remote or 
immediate. 

Q. What is the remote preparation ? 

A. It consists in preparing beforehand the 
subject of the Meditation, by reading or hearing 
it read, and disposing in our mind the points on 
which we are to meditate, the principal affections 
we are to conceive, the petitions we are to make, 
and the resolutions we are to form. 

Q. What is the immediate preparation ? 
A. It is that which immediately precedes 
Meditation. 



METHOD OF MENTAL PRAYER. 55 

Q. In what does it consist ? 

A. In three things : first, in placing onrselyes 
in the presence of God; second, in acknowl- 
edging ourselves unworthy of appearing before 
him ; third, in acknowledging ourselves incapa- 
ble of praying as we ought. 

Q. How must we place ourselves in the presence of 
God? 

A. By two acts : first, of faith, believing that 
God, being everywhere, is in the place wherein 
we pi^ay, and in our very hearts; second, of 
profound adoration of His infinite Majesty, 
before whom we are nothing. 

Q. What must we do in acknowledging ourselves 
unworthy of appearing before God ? 

A. Three things : first, we must humble our- 
selves at the sight of our sins ; second, detest 
them by an act of sincere contrition; third, 
unite ourselves to Jesus Christ in order to 
appear before His Father, and put up our prayer 
to Him in His name. 

Q. What must we do in acknowledging ourselves incapa- 
ble of praying as we ought ? 

A. We must distrust our own understanding, 
renounce our own Avill, and all distractions, and 
beg the light and grace of the Holy Ghost; for 
which we may implore the intercession: of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saints to whom 
we have the most devotion. 



56 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

CHAPTER III. 

OP THE MEDITATION. 

Q. What is Meditation ? 

A. By Meditation we here understand the 
exercise of the powers of the soul on some pious 
subject. 

Q. Which are the powers to be exercised ? 

A. Memoiy, understanding, and will. 

Q. How is the memory to be exercised ? 

A. By recalling to our mind the subject we 
have prepared, and making a representation of 
it by means of the imagination, which is a kind 
of corporal memory. 

Q. How is that representation to be made ? 

A. By imagining that the thing we meditate 
upon is actually passing before our eyes. 

Q. Explain this by example. 

A. If I meditate on the Nativity of Jesus 
Christ, I must imagine myself to be in the stable, 
to see the manger, the Infant Jesus, etc., etc. 
If I meditate on Death, I must fancy myself on 
a death-bed, surrounded bj^ friends in tears, 
ready to give the last gasp, etc. 

Q. What is to be done when the subject is not a fact 
but a truth, a virtue or a vice ? 

A. We must then recall to our mind some 
passage of the life or passion of Jesus, where 
he teaches that truth, gives an example of virtue, 
or condemns that vice. 

Q. What is the use of this representation ? 

A. To fix our attention, to prevent distractions, 



METHOD OF JMENTAL PRAYER. 5t 

and to make good use of our imagination, which 
has been given us by Almighty God for that 
purpose. 

Q. What must we do when the subject is present to 
our imagination ? 

A. We must adore, praise, thank, and love 
our Blessed Saviour, with relation to the subject; 
and beg of Him the fruit we wish to draw from 
the present Meditation. 

Q. How is the understanding to be exercised ? 
A. In seriously considering the subject. 

Q. How is the subject to be considered ? 

A. Under two respects ; viz.: in itself, and in 
its relation to us. 

Q. How is the subject considered in itself? 

A. By considering the different circumstances 
of it, and reasoning upon them, in order to con- 
vince our minds of the reasons and motives we 
have to shun vice and to embrace virtue. 

Q. How do we consider the subject in relation to our- 
selves ? 

A. By making a comparison of our past con- 
duct and actual dispositions with that which we 
have discovered to be our obligation, so that 
knowing our vices and imperfections, we may 
more easily reform ourselves. 

Q. Is this point of great importance ? 

A. Yes; and without it Meditation would 
afford but very little profit. 

Q. How is the will to be exercised ? 
A. In forming affections, resolutions, and peti- 
tions. 



58 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

Q. What are the affections to be formed ? 

A. Chiefly three : first, sorrow for our past 
sins; second, confusion at the sight of our 
present imperfections; and, third, a desire of 
doing better for the future. 

Q. May we not occupy ourselves in some other affec- 
tions ? 

A. Yes ; according to the interior motions of 
the Holy Ghost, and to the nature of the sub- 
ject; such as aifections of joy, compassion, fear, 
hope, love, hatred, aversion, contempt, etc. 

Q. What do you mean by resolutions ? 
A. I mean a sincere and firm determination 
to shun vice and to practice virtue. 

Q. Is it necessary to make resolutions ? 
A. Yes; for on them entirely depends the 
fruit of Mental Prayer. 

Q. What must be the qualities of our resolutions ? 

A. They must be : first, prudent; second, par- 
ticular ; third, present ; fourth, humble ; and, 
fifth, generous. 

Q. How prudent ? 

A. That is to say, they must be proportioned 
to our necessities which we have discovered in 
Meditation. 

Q. How particular ? 

A. By pointing out the particular vices and 
sins to be avoided, and the particular virtues or 
good works to be practiced. 

Q. How present ? 

A. They must be for the present day, and the 
immediate occasion. 



METHOD OF MENTAL PRAYER. 59 

Q. How humble ? 

A. They must be accompanied with a great 
distrust of ourselves, and a great confidence in 
God. 

Q. How generous ? 

A. They must move us to surmount all obsta- 
cles, and to pursue the most proper means for 
rooting out all vicious habits, and planting virtue 
in our hearts. 

Q. What do you mean by petition ? 

A. The resolution of doing better, naturally 
leads us to ask of Almighty God, His grace to 
execute our good purposes, as being incapable 
of any good without it. 

Q. What must be the qualities of our petitions ? 
A. They must be accompanied with humility, 
fervor, confidence, and perseverance. 

Q. What are the means of rendering our petitions 
more efficacious ? 

A. We must present them to Almighty God, 
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Mediator ; 
and implore the intercession of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, of the Angels and the Saints. 

CHAPTER IV. 

ON THE CONCLUSION. 

Q. How must we conclude our prayer? 

A. By spending a little while after it in review- 
ing in what manner the whole of it has been 
performed. 



60 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

Q. To what purpose ? 

A. First, to encourage ourselves to continue, 
the next time, that which we find to have been 
rightly performed, and to correct that which has 
been faulty and deficient; second, to thank God 
for the graces which He has bestowed upon us 
during the time of prayer, and to beg Him to 
pardon the faults committed during its perform- 
ance ; and, third, to make choice of some of the 
thoughts or affections which moved us the most, 
in order to recall them from time to time, during 
the day, to our remembrance. Tliis is commonly 
called the Spiritual Nosegay. 

CHAPTER V. 

OF SOME ADVICES CONCERNING MENTAL PRAYER. 

Q. Is it necessary to follow this method ? 
A. Yes, unless God should call us to some 
other manner of prayer. 

Q. What must we do when we feel ourselves attracted 
to some other manner of prayer ? 

A. We must propose it with simplicity to our 
director and follow his advice. 

Q. Is it necessary to make many considerations ? 

A. No ; only as many as are requisite to excite 
in us pious affections and resolutions, which are 
the chief part of Mental Prayer. 

Q. Is it necessary to conceive many affections ? 

A. No ; when we are actually employed in 
forming some good affection, making some peti- 
tion, or making some good resolution, we must 



METHOD OF MENTAL PRAYER. 61 

not leave it, under the pretense of passing to 
another. 

Q. Must we, in producing these acts, confine ourselves 
scrupulously to the order prescribed in the method ? 

A. No ; if we find ourselves moved to produce 
them from the beginning, or out of the place 
pointed out by this method, we must follow that 
attraction without delay. 

CHAPTER VI. 
OF THE IMPEDIMENTS TO MENTAL PRAYER. 

Q. What are the chief impediments to Mental Prayer ? 
A. The chief impediments to Mental Prayer 
are distractions and dryness. 

Q. What is distraction ? 

A. It is a w^andering of the imagination or of 
the mind tow^ards objects foreign to the subject 
of Meditation. 

Q. What should we do to avoid distractions ? 

A. We must endeavor, before prayer, to pre- 
vent them ; during prayer, to banish them ; after 
prayer, to find out and cut off the root of them. 

Q. How are we to prevent distraction before prayer ? 
A. By faithfully observing what has been said 
of the preparation to Mental Prayer. 

Q. How are we to banish them during prayer ? 

A. By gently and quietly recalling our mind 
to our subject, as soon as we perceive ourselves 
to be distracted, without troubling ourselves on 
account of the distraction, or reflecting upon it. 



62 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

Q. How are we to find out and cut off the root of 
them after praj^er ? 

A. In the conclusion of our prayer, we ought 
to examine what has been the source of our 
distractions, and having found it out, we must 
endeavor to amend it so far as we can. 

Q. What do you mean by dryness ? 

A. I mean the state of a soul that finds her- 
self, as it were, incapable of reflection or affec- 
tions, to which sometimes is joined an interior 
disgust and desolation. 

Q. How comes a soul to fall into that state ? 

A. It is either a punishment or a trial. 

Q. What faults bring this punishment? 

A. Deliberate venial sins, voluntary imper- 
fections, seeking after human comforts, etc. 

Q. What must the soul do in this case ? 

A. She must, by repentance and amendment, 
strive to regain the favor of her God, and bear 
willingly the punishment as long as He may 
choose to inflict it, acknowledging its justice. 

Q. How is this state a trial? 

A. God sometimes withdraws His light and 
consolation from His dearest friends, to per- 
fect their humility, to purify their love, and to 
prepare them for greater favors. 

Q. What must be the conduct of the soul in these 
states ? 

A. She must humble herself, submit to the 
Divine will, persevere in prayer, and wait with 
patience for the return of grace. 

Q. What helps can she make use of in the mean time ? 

A. It is proper she should have recourse to 
some lively ejaculations, to the reciting of some 



TEX ADDITIONAL KECOMMENDATIONS. 63 

short and devout vocal prayer, to the reading of 
something out of a pious book, to some exterior 
act of devotion, etc., etc. 



TEN ADDITIONAL EECOMMENDATIONS, 

IN THE FORM OF RESOLUTIONS, WHICH WILL ASSIST US 
IN MAKING THE EXERCISES WELL, AND OBTAINING FROM 
GOD WHAT WE ASK OF HIM. 

1. On Ijdng down, before going to sleep, 
during the short time which will suffice for 
repeating the " Hail Maiy," I will fix the hour 
of my rising, and review in my mind the points 
of my meditation. 

2. On awaking, immediately excluding all 
other thoughts, I will apply my mind to the 
truth on which I am going to meditate ; at the 
same time I will excite in my heart suitable 
sentiments. For example, before the Exercise 
on the "triple sin," I will say to myself while I 
dress, "And I, loaded with so many graces, the 
object of predilection to my Lord and Eang, I 
stand convicted of ingratitude, of treason, of 
rebellion, before His eyes and those of His whole 
court." Before the Exercise on personal sins, 
"Behold me, a criminal deserving death, led 
before my Judge loaded with chains." These 
sentiments must accompany the act of rising, 



64 jeXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

and will vary according to the subject of medi- 
tation. 

3. Standing a few paces from the spot where 
I am going to make my meditation, I must recol- 
lect myself, raise my mind above earthly things, 
and consider our Lord Jesus Christ as present 
and attentive to what I am about to do. Having 
given to this preparation the time required to 
say the " Our Father,'' I mil offer the homage 
of my soul and body to our Saviour, assuming 
an attitude full of veneration and humble 
respect. 

4. I will then begin my meditation, if I am 
alone in my chamber or elsewhere without wit- 
nesses, in the posture most suitable to the end 
I propose to myself, sometimes with my face 
bowed to the earth, sometimes standing, some- 
times sitting; only observing that if I obtain 
what I seek kneeling, or in any other attitude, 
I ought to remain so without seeking any thing 
better. In the same way, if any particular point 
causes me to experience the grace which I am 
seeking, I must remain there calmly until my 
devotion is satisfied, without caring for any thing 
more. 

5. After having finished the Exercise, I will 
either walk about or sit still, and examine how 
it has succeeded. If it has not, I will ascertain 
the cause, sincerely repent, and make firm reso- 
lutions for the future. If the success has been 
satisfactory, I will make acts of thanksgiving, 
and resolve to follow the same method for the 
future. 



CONTEMPLATION. 65 

6. I mil lay aside during the first week all 
joyful thoughts, such, for instance, as the glorious 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. This thought 
■would dry up the tears which I ought at this 
period to shed over my sins. I must rather call 
up thoughts of death and judgment, in order to 
assist my sorrow. 

7. For the same purpose, I will shut out the 
daylight, onlj^ allowing sufficient light to enter 
my room to enable me to read and take my 
meals. 

8. I will carefully avoid all laughter, or any 
thing which can lead to it. 

9. I will not look at any one, unless obliged 
to salute them or say adieu. 

10. I will add to these practices some exer- 
cises of penance, both interior^ exciting in my- 
self sentiment of self-humiliation, and sorrow 
for my innumerable sins, and exterior^ curbing 
my appetite and carefully guarding my senses 
against distraction from external objects. 



CONTEMPLATION", 

OR MANNER OF MEDITATING ON SENSIBLE OBJECTS. 

In this Exercise, where the mysteries of our 
Saviour are the object, we fix on persons, listen 
to words, consider actions; and from each of 



66 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

these we endeavor to draw some fruit for the 
soul. 

I. BEFORE THE COIS^TEMPLATION. 

The same thing is to be observed as in the 
meditations, only adding a prelude. It is a sort 
of representation of the mystery intended to be 
meditated upon, and which consists in recalling 
the history in brief. This prelude should be 
placed after the preparatory prayer, and before 
the construction of place. 



n. DURING THE CONTEMPLATION. 

1. Consider first, the persons, with whatever 
they present in themselves of good or bad. 

2. The words, interior or exterior ; the thoughts, 
the affections. 

3. The actions, praiseworthy or blamable, 
going back to their cause in order to draw more 
spiritual profit from them. 

Each of these points we must consider as 
regards ourselves, and apply the reflections sug- 
gested by the different objects contemplated. 
We may also meditate on the mysteries, reflect- 
ing on all the circumstances, the causes, the end, 
the effect, the time, the place, the manner of 
their accomplishment. 

[End by one or more colloquies and the Pater.] 



in. AFTER THE C0NTE3IPLATI0N. 

The same review as after the meditation. 



OF DIVERS MANNERS OF PRAYING. 67 

OF DIVERS MANNERS OF PRAYING. 
FIRST MANNER. 

This is less a prayer than a spiritual exercise, 
which assists the soul, and renders its prayer more 
agreeable to God. It consists in reflecting on 
the commandments of God, the capital sins, the 
three powers of the soul, the five senses of the 
body, as follows: 

1. Before beginning, think a few minutes of 
what you are about to do. 

2. Ask of God the grace to know the sins you 
have committed against His commandments, 
and to accomplish the obligations of His law 
with more fidelity henceforth. 

3. Thinking ov^er, one after another, the com- 
mandments of God, see how you have fulfilled 
or violated them. Ask pardon for the sins you 
can recall, and say the Pater, It is sufficient to 
dwell the length of three Paters on each precept; 
but this space of time must be abridged or pro- 
longed according as the faults are few or numer- 
ous on each precept. 

4. After having thus run through all the com- 
mandments, humble yourself, accuse yourself; 
ask for grace to observe them better for the 
future ; and end by a colloquy addressed to God, 
suitable to the state and the dispositions in which 
you find yourself. 

K you wish to take for your subject the cap- 
ital sins, the three powers of the soul, the five 
senses, etc., you have only to change the matter 



68 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

of the examination ; the rest will be the same 
as for the commandments. 

Let US observe that the Christian who wishes 
to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in the use of 
his senses, must ask the grace of God the Father 
to enable him to do so, and, glancing at each 
of his senses, examine how far they approach or 
depart from his Divine Model. Before passing 
from one sense to another, recite a Pater, 

If it is proposed to imitate the Blessed Yii'gin, 
we must ask her to obtain this grace from her 
Divine Son, and after the examination of each 
sense recite an Ave. 



SECOND MANNER. 

This consists in reciting some vocal prayer, 
and resting successively on the words composing- 
it as long as we feel taste and devotion. 

1. Before beginning recollect yourself. 

2. Address yourself to the person to whom 
you are going to pray. 

3. Begin the prayer — the Patei\ for example ; 
dwell on these words, Our Father; meditate on 
them as long as they furnish you mth thoughts, 
affections, etc., and then pass to the following 
words, which you will consider in the same 
manner. 

4. Wlien the time comes to conclude, recite 
the rest of the prayer without stopping, and 
address yourself in a short prayer to the person 
to whom you have been praying, to ask the 
grace or the virtue which you require. 



OF DIVEKS MANNEKS OF PRAYING. 69 

Remarh, [ ( 1.) All vocal prayers, the Credo^ 
the Scdve Regina^ the Anhna Christie etc., may 
be recited in this manner. (2.) If one single 
word of tlie pra3^er we are reciting in this way 
suffices to occupy the mind and the heart all the 
time destined to prayer, we must put off to 
another day the meditation of the rest. The 
follomng day we must commence by reciting, 
without stopping, what was meditated on the 
day before, and then continue the consideration 
of the rest of the words of the prayer.] 



THIRD MANNER. 

This consists in pronouncing a vocal prayer, 
and, if we choose several prayers successively, 
only stopping the interval of a breathing between 
each, thinking either of the sense of the word, 
or of the dignity of the person to whom we 
pray, or of our own unworthiness, or of the dis- 
tance between the two. Let us take the Ave 
Maria for an example. 

1. Think of the action you are going to per- 
form. 

2. Beginning with "Hail, Mary," think for a 
moment what these words signify, or of the 
dignity of the Blessed Virgin whom you salute, 
or of your miseries, which place so great a dis- 
tance between you and the Mother of God. 

3. Then you pronounce the other words, dwell- 
ing on each one, as we have said, only the time 
of a breathing. 



70 EXERCISES or ST. IGNATIUS. 

METHOD OF PARTICULAE EXAMINATIOK 

There are two kinds of examination (or exa- 
men), general and particular. The object of 
the first is to discover all the faults we have 
committed. The second, or particular examin- 
ation, has for its object one single fault or bad 
habit which we have resolved to correct. It is 
made every day in the following manner : 

1. In the morning, on rising, resolve to avoid 
this sin or defect. 

2. Towards noon ask of God the grace to 
remember how often you have fallen into it, and 
to avoid it for the future. Then examine, think- 
ing over the time passed since your rising to this 
time, the number of faults committed, marking 
them by so many points in the first line of a 
figure like the following. 

DAYS OF THE WEEK. 



First day 




Second day 






Third day 




Fourth day 




Fifth day 




Sixth day 


Seventh day 





METHOD OF PARTICULAR EXAMINATION. 71 

This done renew your resolutions for the rest 
of the day. 

3. In the evening, after supper, a new exam- 
ination like the first, marking the faults on the 
second line. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

1. At each fault against the resolution you 
have taken, put your hand on your heart and 
repent of your fall. This may be done without 
being perceived. 

2. At night, count the points of the two 
examinations, and see if, from the first to the 
second, you have made any amendment. 

3. Compare, in the same way, the day or the 
week which is ending with the preceding day or 
week. The lines diminish in length, because it 
is reasonable to expect, that the number of the 
faults should likewise diminish. 

4. The subject of the particular examination 
should be ordinarily the predominant passion — 
that is, the one that has been the source of the 
greatest number of faults that you commit, and 
which, consequently, is the great obstacle to 
your sanctification. 

5. This examination on the predominant pas- 
sions should be continued until it is entirely 
overcome, or at least notably weakened. 



72 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 



METHOD OF THE GENERAL EXAMINATION, 

TO BE MADE EVERY DAY. 

The first point is an act of thanksgiving to 
the Lord for the benefits we have received. 

The second is a prayer to know our faults^ 
and to correct them. 

The third is an exact discussion and examina- 
tion of the sins we have committed during the 
day. We must demand a rigorous account from 
our souls of what we have thought, said, and 
done hour by hour. The same order and method 
must be followed as has been already given for 
the particular examen. 

The fourth consists in asking pardon of God 
for the sins into which we have fallen. 



PRAYER OF ST. IGNATIUS, "ANIMA CHRISTI," 

WHICH IS OFTEN USED DURING THE EXERCISES. 

Anima Christi, sanctifica me. 
Corpus Christi, salva me. 
Sanguis Christi, inebria me. 
Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. 
Passio Christi, conforta me. 
bone Jesu, exaudi me : 
Intra tua vulnera absconde me : 
Ne permittas me separari a te : 
Ab hoste maligno defende me ; 
In hora mortis mese voca me, 
Et jube me venire ad te, 
TJt cum Sanctis tuis laudem te 
In sa3cula saeculorum. Amen. 



PRAYER or OBLATION AND DIVINE LOVE. 78 

Soul of Christ, sanctify me. 

Body of Christ, save me. 

Blood of Christ, inebriate me. 

Water out of the side of Christ, wash me. 

Passion of Christ, strengthen me. 

good Jesus, hear me ; 

Hide me within Thy wounds ; 

Suifer me not to be separated from Thee. 

Defend me from the malignant enemy ; 

Call me at the hour of my death, 

And bid me come unto Thee, 

That with Thy saints I may praise Thee 

For all eternity. Amen. 



PRAYER OF OBLATION AND DIVINE LOVE, 

BY ST. IGNATIUS. 

Suspice, Domine, universam meam liberta- 
tem. Accipe memoriam, intellectum, et volun- 
tatem omnem. Quidquid habeo vel possideo, 
tu mihi largitus es: id tibi totum restituo, ac 
tuae prorsus trade voluiitati gubernandum. 
Amorem tui solum cum gratia tua mihi dones, 
et dives sum satis, nee aliud quidquam ultra 
posco. 

Take and receive, Lord, my entire liberty. 
Accept my whole memory, my whole under- 
standing, my whole will. Whatsoever I have 
or possess Thou hast bounteously bestowed it 
upon me ; I restore it all to Thee, and deliver 
it up to be governed entirely according to Thy 
wdll. Vouchsafe to give me Thy love with Thy 
grace and I am rich enough ; nor do I ask for 
aught else but this priceless boon. 



74 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

THE MEMOKARE, 

BY ST. BERNARD. 

Memorare, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse 
auditum a saeculo quemquam ad tua currentem 
praesidia, tua petentem suffragia, tua implo- 
rantem auxilia esse derelictum. Ego tali ani- 
matus confidentia ad te, Virgo yirginum, Mater 
curro, ad te yenio, coram te gemens peccator 
assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despi- 
cere, sed audi benigni et exaudi. 

Remember, O most compassionate Virgm 
Mary, that it is unheard of, through all ages, 
that any one flying to thy protection, asking 
thy prayers, and beseeching thy help, ever 
was abandoned. Animated with such confi- 
dence, I run to thee, Virgin of virgins, as 
to my sweet mother, I come to thee and cast 
myself, a weeping sinner, at thy feet. Do not, 
O Mother of the Divine Word, despise my 
words, but graciously hear them, and obtain for 
me what I so humbly and so confidently ask. 

[Here state your petition.] 



PRAYER OF UNION WITH JESUS IN ALL OUR 
ACTIONS. 

[Found in Bishop David^s handwriting, in an old Diurnal.] 

Quidquid agam auspice Jesu agam. — Visi- 
tabo? In oculis Jesus erit. Dormiam? Jesum 



UNION WITH JESUS AND MARY. ^ 75 

somniabo. Ambulabo? Jesus comes ibit. Se- 
debo? Latus claudet Jesus. Studebo? Jesus 
erudiet. Scribam? Calumum cum manu Jesus 
ducet, et Jesus Jesum scribet. Orabo ? Verba 
Jesus formabit, animabit Jesus. Fessus ero? 
Kecreabit Jesus. Esuriam, sitiam? Jesus pa- 
scet, potabit. OEgrotabo ? Amor aderit medicus 
Jesus. Moriar ? Jesu immoriar meo, Jesus ocu- 
los claudet, Jesu sinus milii tumulus, tumuli in- 
scriptio Jesu nomen erit. 

Whatever I will do, I will do it under the 
auspices of Jesus. Will I visit? Jesus shall 
be before my eyes. Will I sleep ? I will dream 
of Jesus. Will I walk ? Jesus will be my com- 
panion. Will I sit down? Jesus will be by my 
side. Will I study? Jesus will teach me. Will 
I write ? Jesus will guide my hand and pen, and 
Jesus will write Jesus. Will I pray? Jesus 
will form and will animate my words. Will I 
be tired? Jesus will repose me. Will I hun- 
ger — thirst ? Jesus will feed and give me to 
drink. Will I be sick ? Jesus, my love, will be 
my physician. Will I die ? I will die with my 
Jesus, Jesus will close my eyes, the bosom of 
Jesus will be my tomb, and the inscription will 
be the name of Jesus. 



UNION WITH JESUS AND MARY. 

O Jesu, vivens in Maria, veni et vive in famuKs 
tuis, in spiritu sanctitatis tuae, in plenitudine 



76 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

virtutis tuae, in perfectionem viarum tuarum, in 
communionem niYsteriorum tuoriim ; dominare 
omni adversae potestati in Spiritu tuo ad gio- 
riam Patris, Amen. 

Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy 
servants, in the spirit of Thy holiness, in the 
plenitude of Thy power, in the perfection of 
Thy ways, in the communion of Thy mysteries ; 
overrule every adverse power in Thy Spirit for 
the glory of the Father. Amen. 



PREPAEATORY EXERCISE. 

[Veni Creator. Ave maris stella. Invoke St. Joseph, your angel 
guardian, and your patron saints. Then read attentively the suhject 
of meditation whidh- is to ojjen the Exercises ^ 

MEDITATION ON EETREAT. 
FIRST CONSIDEEATION. 

What God has prepared for you in retreat. 

God has prei3ared for you a superabundance 
of His graces in this Retreat. It is the same in 
retreat as in the great solemnities of religion and 
in certain privileged sanctuaries of Mary. Jesus 
Christ has graces for every day ; but He reserves 
His choicest ones for the days on which the Church 
celebrates the great mysteries of His life on 
earth. Mary is always our benefactress and our 



PREPARATORY EXERCISE. 77 

mother; but she has favorite sanctuaries, to 
which she attaches her greatest blessings and 
miracles. The privilege of a retreat is to draw 
down upon us all the graces of God in their 
greatest i^lenitude. "Behold, now is the ac- 
ceptable time : behold, now is the day of salva- 
tion." ( 2 Cor. vi. 2.) 

Consider, with St. Bernard, that it has been 
in retreat that God has always pleased to sig- 
nalize His greatest mercies towards men. It was 
in retreat on Sinai that Moses received the tables 
of the law; it was in the retreat of Carmel that 
Elias received the double spirit which animated 
him ; it was in the retreat of the desert that 
John Bai3tist received the plenitude of the Spirit 
of God ; it was in retreat that the Apostles re- 
ceived the gifts of the Holy Ghost; it was in 
retreat that God converted the most illustrious 
penitents, that He raised up the most fervent 
apostles of the new law, that He inspired the 
founders of religious societies; in fine, it was in 
tlie retreat of Nazareth that Mary became the' 
Mother of God ; and it may be said that all the 
life of Jesus Christ was a retreat. "Solitude 
was witness of the vigils of Jesus; solitude 
heard the pra^^ers of Jesus; solitude saw Him 
come into the world, preach, be transfigured, 
die, rise from the dead, ascend into Heaven." 
(P. de Celles.) 

Believe, then, and rest assured that all the 
graces of God await you in this retreat. 

Who are you who this day begin these holy 
Exercises? IVho are you? A soul established 



78 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

in virtue? You need renewing. The most 
solid virtue is a perfume which evaporates, a 
mirror which tarnishes, a water which becomes 
impure in the midst of the world. "Bless the 
Lord, O my soul, .... who satisfieth thy desire 
with good things ; thy youth shall be renewed 
hke the eagle's.'' (Ps. cii. 1, 5.) To you the 
grace of a retreat will be one of renovation. 

Who are you ? A soul divided in the service 
of God — a soul embarrassed by a multitude of 
human affections? You have now to detach 
your heart from creatures. "How long do j^ou 
halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, 
follow Him." (3 Kings xviii. 21.) For you the 
grace of retreat will be a grace of detachment. 

Who are you? A soul given to worldly 
pleasures — one who does not pray, or prays 
badly? You must return to yourself and to 
God. "Return, ye transgressors, to the heart." 
( Is. xlvi. 8.) " We ought always to pray." ( Luke 
xviii. 1.) For you the grace of retreat will be 
one of recollection and prayer. 

Who are you ? A soul struggling with long 
and violent temptations ? You need strength to 
resist. " If you return and be quiet, you shall 
be saved : in silence and hope shall your strength 
be." (Is. XXX. 15.) For you the grace of retreat 
will be one of firmness and perseverance. 

Who are you f Lastly, are you a guilty soul ? 
perhaps a soul grown old in sin, perhaps an 
impenitent soul, perhaps a soul struck with 
blindness and hardness? And if this question 
alone does not make you tremble, certainly you 



PREPARATORY EXERCISE. 7& 

are a hardened soul. Ah! you require nothing 
less than all the graces of God ; and this retreat 
offers them to you — the grace of light on your 
state, on the enormity of your faults, on the 
greatness of your losses for eternity, on the 
judgments of God which menace you ; the grace 
of compunction; the grace of firm resolution; 
the grace of a real and solid conversion. 



SECOND CONSIDERATION. 

What God asks of you in this Retreat. 

God requires two things of you, on which 
depend all the graces of the retreat. 

1. RecolleGtion of spirit. You are in retreat 
to listen to God. "I will hear what the Lord 
God will speak within me." ( Ps. Ixxxiv. 9.) But 
the voice of God only makes itself heard in the 
re]Dose and silence of the soul. It is true, that the 
voice of God, having once fully penetrated the 
heart, becomes strong as the tempest and loud 
as the thunder; but before reaching the heart, 
it is weak as a light breath which scarcely agi- 
tates the air. It shrinks from noise, and is silent 
amid agitation. "The Lord is not in the earth- 
quake." (3 Kings xix. 11.) Ketire into your 
heart with God, to meditate, to pray, to weep, to 
speak to the Lord and to listen to Him. You 
will not be alone when you are mth Him. 
"How can he be alone who is always with God?" 
says St. Ambrose. If you are deprived of the 



80 EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS. 

conversation of men, you mil enjoy that of the 
saints, of the angels, of Jesus Christ.* 

2. Perfect dooility of heart. This comprises 
three things: fidelity to rules; application to 
the exercises ; obedience to all the movements 
of grace. Be afraid of refusing any thing to 
God : however small the sacrifice may be, per- 
haps our conversion, our salvation, may depend 
on it. A single word of the Gospel converted 
St. Anthony; a word from a sermon converted 
St. Nicholas Tolentino ; a fact of history, a read- 
ing, a conversation, began the conversion of 
St. Augustine, of St. Ignatius, of St. Francis 
Xavier. Can you tell to what sacrifice God 
may have attached the change of your heart? 
Enter, then, into the disposition of the prophet: 
'^My heart, O Lord, is reader." (Ps. Ivi. 8.) Do 
not fear to be too generous with God, and do 
not be afraid of the sacrifices . He may ask of 
you ; this sweet experience will force you to cry 
out with St. Augustine, " How sweet has it been 
to me to be deprived of the miserable delights 
of a frivolous world! and what incomparable 
joy have I felt after a privation once so dreaded ! " 
Cast yourself, therefore, at the feet of Jesus 
Christ, and say to Him, "Lord, Thou hast given 
me a soul capable of knowing and loving Tiiee ; 
I return it to Thee, not adorned with the grace 
and virtue that Thou bestowedst on it in baptism, 
but covered with the scars and wounds of sin; 

* " I call to me whom I will : I possess the society of 
saints : a troop of angels accompany me : I enjoy converse 
with Jesus Christ Himself." ( St. Jerome.) 



PREPARATORY EXERCISE. 81 

cure it, heavenly Physician, and restore to it 
its pristine life and beauty. 

"Lord, I offer Thee my understanding; en- 
lighten it with Thy brightest light. 'Enlighten 
my eyes, lest I sleep in death.' ( Ps. xii. 4.) 

"Lord, 1 offer Thee my memory; blot out from 
it the remembrance of the world, and leave in 
it only the memory of Thy mercies to bless 
them, and of my sins to weep for them. 

" Lord, I offer Thee my heart ; change it by 
Thy grace. ' Create a clean heart in me, O God, 
and renew a right spirit within me.' ( Ps. 1. 12.) 

"Lord, I offer to Thee the senses of my body, 
the powers of my soul, my whole being ; dis- 
pose of them for my salvation and for Thy 
greater glory. ' I have put my trust in Thee, O 
Lord ; I have said Thou art my God ; my lot is 
in Thy hand.'" ( Ps. xxx. 15.) 

Pater. Ave. 



EIGHT DAYS' RETREAT. 



FIRST WEEK. 



VIA PURGATIVA. 
THE WAY OF PURIFICATION. 

The object of this Week's Meditations is, to 
purify our souls from the defilements of sin, by 
earnestly meditating on the eternal truths and 
bringing them home to our own souls. By 
applying this touchstone of divine truth to our 
own special case, we will be enabled, by the 
divine assistance, to see and feel our own mani- 
fold sins and deficiencies, and to reform our own 
conduct, which is the principal end of this 
Retreat. Deformata Reformare — to reform 
whatever is deformed — this is the practical 
fi:uit of this Week's Exercises. If we should be 

C83) 



84 FIRST WEEK. 

SO happy as to accomplish this, we will have 
made a good Retreat; if not, we will have lost 
our time. If we should confine ourselves to 
mere speculation and generalities, how much 
soever we may be moved for the moment, we 
will derive but little solid fruit from these Exer- 
cises. Let us impress tliis truth deeply on our 
minds and hearts. 

God has, then, called me to this holy 
Eetreat to give me an opportunity to reform 
my conduct by being enlightened in my rela- 
tions and duties towards BQim, and comparing 
these with my own conduct in the past as un- 
folded to me by a diligent self-examination. To 
accomplish this, I must look to myself alone, not 
to others ; and I must propose to myself as my rule 
for making this Eetreat, the following motto : 

Ingredi totus ; maot]iie solus ; exire alius — 
to enter wholly, to rematn^ aloiste, to come 
out another person. 

I must enter on this Retreat wii^ my whole 
heart, with my whole soul, and with my whole 
attention ; I must remain in it alone before God, 
as if there were no other person in the world 



FIRST WEEK. 85 

but myself; I must come out of it reformed and 
changed in my life and conduct — a new man 
in Christ Jesus. 

During this first Week I must seek to 
emerge from darkness into light, to rise from 
sin unto grace. I must propose to myself: first, 
to study diligently my last end, and to penetrate 
myself thoroughly with this great truth, that I 
was made for God, and that, therefore, I must 
live and labor for God alone ; second, to per- 
suade myself that sin alone is the real obstacle 
in the way of my attaining this last end, and 
that sin is therefore the only real evil, because 
it alone can deprive me of my only real good ; 
and, third, by meditating on death, judgment, 
and hell, I must seek to strike a holy terror into 
my own guilty soul, and thus to arouse it from 
its iniquities and prepare it to be enlightened 
by Almighty God, my first beginning and my 
last end. Surge ! llluminare ! — Arise ! be en- 
lightened, O my soul! ^' Doce me^ Domin.e^ 
jinem me^im^ ict sciam quid desit miJii ! — Teach 
me, O Lord, my Last End, that I may know 
what is wanting to me ! " 



86 FIRST DAY. 

FIKST DAY. 



FIEST MEDITATION. 

ON THE END OF MAN. 

First prelude. Imagine yourself in the 
midst of this universe alone^ before the Majesty 
of God; as Adam coming out of the hands of 
his Creator. 

Second prelude. Adore His infinite Majesty, 
and beseech Him to enhghten you on the great 
EOT) of your creation. 

rrasT point. 

Man is made to serve God. 

The world had lasted nearly six thousand 
years before I had existence. Who placed me 
in this world? 'Tis God, who made me! 'Tis 
He who framed this body of mine, made of vile 
materials, it is true, but wonderful in its struc- 
ture. 'TisHe, who created my immortal soul, 
made it to His own image and likeness, and 
united it to this mortal body. But for what end 
did He make me ? Were there a greater Being 



FIRST MEDITATION. 87 

than God, He would have made me for that 
Being: but no; Himself is the Supreme Being, 
the source of all being. It is therefore impos- 
sible that He should have made me for another. 
Therefore, I am His own property. His right 
in me is certain; it is inalienable. There- 
fore, if I have an understanding, it can be but 
to know Him. If I have a heart, it can be 
but to love Him. If I have a body, strength, 
health, etc., it can be but to serve Him. There- 
fore, to serve God is the end of my creation ; it 
is my important, nay, my only business upon 
earth. 

Make an act of faith on this fundamental 
truth. Give thanks to God for so noble a destin- 
ation. Examine whether your past conduct 
has corresponded with the great end of your 
creation. Be confounded and grieve for having 
served the world and your passions instead of 
God. Conceive an ardent desire to lead, hence- 
forth, a life conformable to that end. Offer your- 
self to God, to be His for the future. 

SECOND POINT. 
How far man is obliged to serve God. 

I am from God. I am God's; therefore, I 
must serve God. This is evident. But I am from 

8 



88 FIRST DAY. 

God alone; therefore, I belong to Him alone; 
therefore, I must serve Him alone: no other 
has a right to^ my services ; I can not divide my 
heart. Moreover, I am wholly from God ; there- 
fore, I am wholly His ; therefore, I must employ 
my whole self in His service, both soul and 
body; thoughts, desires, w^ords and actions — no 
exception, ho reserve. Again; I am always 
from God. He not only created me, but He 
also preserves me at every instant of my exist- 
ence ; and that, by the same act and omnipotent 
operation of His will by which He first brought 
me into existence. "In Him we live, we move, 
and we are." But thus to preserve me, is in 
some measure creating me every instant. There- 
fore, I am always God's. Therefore, every 
moment of my life must be employed in His 
service. All the time employed in any thing 
else, is time lost. Finally, God created and He 
preserves me, out of pure love, being in no need 
of me. Therefore, I ought to serve Him out of 
pure love, even if I had nothing either to fear 
or to hope for from Him. 

Compare your past life with these extensive 
obligations. See the deformity. Grieve for the 
past. Embrace those precious duties. Despise 
the world. Offer yourself to God, etc. Resolve, 
etc. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 89 

THIRD POINT. 

What man may hope for from his fidelity in serving God. 

He may hope, lie may rest fully assm^ed, 
that God will be his, in the proportion as he 
will be God's: God wholly his, if he will be 
wholly God's: God always his, if he will be 
always God's : God as perfectly his as if he pos- 
sessed him alone, and gave no part of his affec- 
tions to creatures. God Himself my reward! 
my happiness, the happiness of God Himself! 
To possess God ! To enj oy God ! What a recom- 
pense! And that, forever! Even in this life, 
God dwells in the hearts of His servants. He 
reigns there with all graces and consolations ; 
His eyes are on them ; BQs providence protects 
them, watches over them, heaps graces and 
favors on them. They are the objects of His 
tender love and complacency. 

Thank Him for having prepared for you so 
immense a reward. Grieve for your past insensi- 
bility. Stir up in yourself a desire of being a 
child of God, a friend, a favorite of God. Resolve 
to neglect nothing for this end. 



90 FIRST DAY. 



VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 



1. " I am Alpha and Omega, the begimiing 
and the end." ( Apocalypse i.) 

2. "Every one who invoketh my name, I 
have created for my glory ; I have formed him 
and made him." ( Isaias xliii. 7.) 

3. "Behold O Lord! they who go far away 
from Thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all 
those who forsake Thee, to love creatures." (Ps. 
Ixxii. 27.) 

4. "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, 
and our hearts are restless until they rest in 
Thee ! " ( St. Augustine's Confessions.) 

Read the "Following of Christ," bookiii. chaps. 9 and 10. 



CONSIDERATIOK 

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE EXERCISES. 
The end of man. 

Text of St Ignatius: Man was created for 
this end : to praise^ reverence^ and serve the 
Lord his God^ and hy this means to arrive at 
eternal salvation. 

This meditation comiDrises three great truths 
which are the foundation of all the exercises; 



CONSIDERATION. 91 

I come from God; Ihelong to God; I ain des- 
tined for God. That is to say, God is my first 
principle, my sovereign Master, my last end. 

First Truth: I come from God. 

CONSIDERATIONS. 

1. Where was I a hundred years ago ? I was 
nothing. If I look back a hundred years, I see 
the world with its empires, its cities, its inhabi- 
tants; I see the sun which shines to-day, the 
earth on which I dwell, the land which gave me 
birth, the family from which I sprung, the name 
b/ which I am known : but I — what was I, and 
where was I? I was nothing, and it is amidst 
nothingness I must be sought. Oh, how many 
ages i^assed during which no one thought of me ! 
For how can nothing be the subject of thought? 
How many ages when even an insect or an atom 
was greater than I? for they possessed at least 
an existence. 

2. But now I exist. I possess an intellect 
capable of knowing, a heart formed for loving, 
a body endowed with wonderful senses. And 
this existence, who gave it me? Chance? — 
Senseless word! — My parents? They answer 
in the words of the mother of the Machabees : 
" No, it was not I who gave you mind and soul ; 
it was the Creator of the world." ( 2 Mach. vii. 
22.) Lastly, was I the author of my own exist- 
ence? But nothingness can not be the cause 
of existence. It is to God, then, that I must 



92 FIRST DAY. 

turn as my first beginning. " Thy hands, O Lord, 
have made me and formed me." ( Ps. cxviii. 78.) 
"Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me." (Ps. 
cxxx^^ii. 5.) Thou hast taken me from the 
abyss of nothing. 

3. Consider, my soul, the circumstances of 
thy creation. 

(1.) God created me out of His pure love. 
Had He any need of my existence, or could I 
be necessary to His happiness? "I have loved 
thee with an everlasting love." ( Jer. xxxi. 3.) 

( 2.) God created me, and the decree of my 
creation is eternal like Himself, From eternity, 
then, God thought of me. I was yet in the 
abyss of nothingness, and God gave me a place 
in His thoughts ! I was in His mind, and in 
His heart. "I have loved you with an everlast- 
ing love." 

( 3.) God created me, and in creating me pre- 
ferred me to an infinite number of creatures 
who were equally possible to Him, and who 
will for ever remain in nothingness. O God, 
how have I deserved this preference! "I have 
loved you with an everlasting love." 

( 4.) God created me, and by creation made 
me the most noble of the creatures of the visible 
world. My soul is in His image, and all my 
being bears the stamp, the living stamp of His 
attributes. 

( 5.) Lastly, God created me and He has con- 
tinued His creation during every moment of my 
existence. As many as are the hours and mo- 



CONSIDERATION. 93 

ments of my life, so often does He make me a 
fresh present of life. 

AFFECTIOXS. 

Sentiments of humility at the sight of our 
nothingness. "My substance is as nothing 
before Thee." ( Ps. xxxviii. 6.) 

Sentiments of admiration, "What is man, 
that Thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost 
Thou set Thy heart upon him ? " ( Job vii. 17.) 

Sentiments of gratitude, " Bless the Lord, O 
my soul, and let all that is within me bless His 
holy name. Bless the Lord, O mj^ soul, and for- 
get not all He hath done for thee." ( Ps. cii. 1, 2.) 

Second Truth: I lelong to God, 

CONSIDERATIONS. 

1. I come from God ; hence I belong to God. 
God is my creator ; hence, He is my Lord and 
my Master. To deny this consequence would 
be to deny my reason. 

2. The Lord enters into judgment with me, 
and deigns to argue His rights at the bar of His 
creature. Is it not true that the master has a 
right to the services of his servants or his slaves ? 
Is it not true that the king has a right to the 
obedience of his subjects? the father, to the 
submission as well as respect of his children? 
Is it not true that the workman has a right to 
dispose of his work as he chooses ? And I, the 



94 FIRST DAY. 

creature of God, do I not belong more to God 
than the slave to his master, than the subject to 
his sovereign, the child to his father, the picture 
to him who painted it, or the tree to him who 
planted it ? Does not God possess over me all 
the rights of men over the creatures, and in a 
higher degree, and by more sacred titles ? What 
is there in me that does not belong to Him, and 
is not the fruit, so to say, of His own capital, and 
therefore His property? "What have you that 
you have not received?" (1 Cor. iv. 7.) What 
Avould remain to me if God took back all that 
He has given me? If God took back my mind 
what should I be ? — On a level with the brute 
animals. If He deprived me of life and motion, 
what should I be ? — A little dust and ashes. If 
He took away my substance and my whole being, 
what should I be ? — A simple nothing. my 
God! all I have comes from Thee ; it is just that 
all in me should belong to Thee. " O Lord, just 
art Thou, and glorious in Thy power, and no one 
can overcome Thee. Let all creatures serve 
Thee: for Thou hast spoken, and they were 
made ; Thou didst send forth Thy spirit, and they 
were created." ( Jud. xvi. 16, 17.) 

3. Consider, O my soul, the characteristics of 
the dominion of God. 

( 1.) Essential dominion. It was not neces- 
sary that God should draw me from nothing. 
But since God has created me, it is necessary 
that I should be His. He would cease to be 
God if, being my creator, He ceased to be my 
sovereign and my master. 



COXSIDERATIOX. 95 

(2.) Supreme dominion, I belong to God 
before every thing, and above ever^^ thing. Prop- 
erly speaking, I belong to God alone, and men 
have no other rights over me except such as 
God has given them. Their rights, then, are 
subordinate to the rights of God; and their 
authority must be always subjected to the 
authority of God. 

( 3.) Absolute dominion. God can dispose of 
me according to His pleasure : He can give or 
take from me fortune, health, honor, life ; my 
duty is to receive every thing from His hand 
with submission and without complaint. 

( 4.) Universal dominion. Every thing in me 
is from God ; therefore all in me belongs to God. 
The dominion of the Lord extends to all the 
stages of my life, to all the situations in which 
I may be placed, to all the faculties of my soul, 
all the senses of my body, to every hour and 
moment of my existence. 

( 5.) Eternal dominion. The dominion of 
God is immortal, like myself; it begins with 
time, and continues through eternity; death, 
which deprives men of all their rights, is unable 
to do any thing against the rights of God. 

( 6.) Irresistible dominion. We may escape 
the dominion of men; but how escape the 
dominion of God? Willing or unwilling, we 
must either live under the empire of His love, 
or under that of His justice ; either glorify His 
power by free obedience, or glorify it by inevit- 
able punishment. 

"O man who art thou that repliest against 
9 



96 FIRST DAY. 

God ? Shall the thing formed say to him who 
formed it, why hast thou made me thus?" 
( Rom. ix. 20.) 

AFFECTIONS. 

1. Adoration. "Thou art worthy, Lord our 
God, to receive glory and honor and power ; for 
Thou hast created all things." (Apoc. iv. 11.) 
" Come, let us adore and fall down before the 
Lord that made us ; for He is the Lord our God." 
(Ps. xciv. 6, 7.) 

2. Regret, " Is this the return thou makest to 
the Lord, O foolish and senseless people ? Is 
not He thy father, that hath possessed thee, and 
made thee, and created thee ? Thou hast for- 
saken the God that made thee, and hast forgotten 
the Lord that created thee." (Deut. xxxii. 6, 18.) 

3. Submission, "O Lord, I am Thy servant; 
I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid." 
(Ps. cxv. 16.) 

Third Truth: lam destined for God. 

CONSIDERATIOISrS. 

1. God is not only my creator and my master, 
He is also my last end. A God infinitely wise 
must have proposed to Himself an end in creat- 
ing me ; a God infinitely perfect could only have 
created me for His glory ; that is to say, to know 
Him, to love Him, and to serve Him. 



CONSIDERATION. 97 

2. O my soul ! dost thou wish for a proof of 
this great truth ? 

(1.) Ash thy foAth ; it will tell thee that God 
made all for Himself: '' The Lord hath made all 
things for Himself;" ( Prov. xvi. 4.) That He 
is the beginning and end of all things : " I am 
the beginning and the end ; " ( Apoc. i. 8.) That 
the greatest of the commandments is to adore, to 
love, and to serve God: "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God ; " " Thou shalt adore the Lord thy 
God, and Him only shalt thou serve." ( Matt. 
xxii. 37 ; iv. 10.) 

(2.) Ask thy reason; it will tell thee that 
there must be some proportion between the 
faculties of man and their object. Hence there 
is nothing but the infinite perfections of God 
which can be the objects of a mind and heart 
craving with an intense desire to know and to 
love. 

(3.) Ash the creatures; they ivill tell thee, 
by their imperfection, their inconstancy, their 
weakness, in a word, by their nothingness, that 
they are far too insignificant to be the end of 
thy being. "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, 
except to love God and to serve Him alone." 
(Imit. of Christ, i, 1.) 

(4.) Ash thy heart ; it will tell thee that thou 
art formed for happiness, and that thou requirest 
happiness without alloy, happiness without limits, 
an eternal happiness ; that is, that thou requirest 
nothing less than God Himself. 

( 5.) Ask thy own, experience ; it will tell thee 
why it is that, when thou hast been faithful in 



98 FIRST DAY. 



/.-.. 



serving God, peace has dwelt within thy breast ; 
why it is that, when thou hast separated thyself 
from Him, thou liast felt nothing but disgust, 
emptiness, and remorse. Peace of heart is the 
fruit of order faithfully kept, faithfully observed. 
"We were made, O Lord, for Thee, and our 
heart is restless until it finds peace in Thee." 
(St. Aug.) 

3. Thus my end is to know God, to love God, 
to serve God; this, therefore, is all my duty, all 
my greatness, all my happiness. 

( 1.) All my duty. Yes, I must know, love, 
and serve God. I must understand well this 
word, O my soul. I must be convinced that 
it is a real necessity. It is not necessary that I 
should possess talents, fortune, pleasures, an 
honorable position in society; it is not necessary 
that I should have a long life ; it is not necessary 
that I should exist; but, supposing that I do 
exist, it is necessary that I should serve God. 
An intelligent creature that does not serve God 
is, in the world, what the sun would be if it 
ceased to shine, what our body would be if it 
ceased to move. It would be in the order of 
intelligence what a monster would be in the 
order of the bodily frame. 

(2.) All my greatness, I am not made for a 
mortal man; I am not made for myself; I am 
not made for an angel. An intelligent and 
immortal being, I am too great for a creature, 
however noble, to be my end. My end is 
that of the angel; is that of Jesus Christ; is 
that of God Himself God does not exist, 



CONSIDERATION. 99 

could not exist, except to know Himself and 
to love Himself; and I only exist, or could exist, 
to know and to love God. 

( 3.) All my happiness. I can not serve God 
in time without possessing Him in eternity. I 
can not give myself wholly to God without His 
giving Himself wholly to me. "I am thy 
exceeding great reward." (Gen. xv. 1.) His 
glory and my happiness are inseparable. It is, 
then, a question of my eternal destiny, and I 
myself am the arbiter of it. O my soul! pic- 
ture to thyself on one side Heaven, with its 
ineffable delight; on the other, Hell, with its 
fires and its despair ; one or other will be thy 
eternal heritage, according as thou shalt have 
served or offended the Lord on earth. It is for 
thee to choose. "I call Heaven and earth to 
witness this day that I have set before you life 
and death, blessing and cursing. Choose, there- 
fore, life, .... that thou mayest love the Lord 
thy God, and obey His voice, and adhere to 
Him, for He is thy life." (Deut. xxx. 19, 20.) 

AFFECTIONS. 

1. Sorrow for the past. "O God, Thou 
knowest my foolishness, and my offenses are 
not hidden from Thee." ( Ps. Ixviii. 6.) 

3. Contempt for creatures. " All those that 
go far from Thee shall perish: Thou hast de- 
stroyed all those that were disloyal to Thee. 
But it is good for me to adhere to my God." 
( Ps. Ixxii. 27, 28.) 



100 FIRST DAY. 

3. Love of Ood. "What have I in Heaven? 
and beside Thee what do I desire upon earth? 
Thou art the God of my heart, and my portion 
for ever." (Ps. Ixxii. 25, 26.) 



SECOISTD MEDITATION. 

ON THE END OF CREATURES. 

First prelude. Imagine yourself alone^ in 
the midst of the whole Creation, before the Ma- 
jesty of God. 

Second prelude. Adore that Infinite Majesty, 
and beseech Him to enligliten you on the use 
you are to make of creatures, to attain your last 

END. 

FIRST POINT. 

*'A11 the things that are upon earth have been given to Man as a 
means to attain his last end." — St. Ignatius of Loyola. 

By the things which are upon earth, are here 
understood not only heaven and earth and all 
that is therein, but also many accidental ap- 
pendages thereof, which without being precisely 
the creatures of God, yet are intended by Him to 
be the companions of man's existence on earth ; 
as health and sickness; riches and poverty; 



« 



SECOND MEDITATION. 101 

pleasures and suffering; honor and contempt, 
etc. From whateyer side these things come, it 
is the intention of God, that man should make 
them serve for the glory of his Creator and for 
his own sanctification. Creatures lose, as it 
were, their being in our regard, when we view 
them in another light ; or, to speak more prop- 
erly, they subsist still, but for our damnation ; 
because, then, we make creatures our last end, 
and substitute them for God ; which is a kind of 
idolatry. Creatures thus perverted from their 
proper destination, groan, says St. Paul, under a 
kind of bondage and violent state : " Every 
creature groans and is in labor until now." But 
the day will come, when it shall be delivered 
from bondage, and then, by the order of the 
Creator, creatures will avenge on guilty man 
the criminal abuse he has made of them. " He 
shall arm," says the wise man, " the creation for 
the vengeance of His enemies." 

Let us deplore our past blindness and the 
strange disorder in which we have hitherto 
lived. Let us invite all creatures to bless His 
name ; or rather, let us bless Him and give Him 
thanks, for having given them to us. Let us 
resolve to make use of them according to the 
design of the Creator. 



102 FIRST DAY. 

SECOND POINT. 

What rules we have to observe in the use of creatures. 

All creatures, with regard to us, may be di- 
vided into two classes. There are some, the use 
of which is necessary. There are others, which 
we are left at liberty to use, or not to use, at 
least, to desire or not to desire. The former are 
of two kinds. The first are those which are ne- 
cessary for the support of our life, health, and 
strength, such as food, clothing, lodging, rest, 
and some diversion. The rule to be followed in 
the use of these creatures, is to take of them 
what is necessary and sufficient; to give God 
thanks for them, and to make to His Divine 
Majesty a generous sacrifice of whatever is 
superfluous. How many disorders would be cut 
off" by a diligent observance of this rule! The 
other kind of necessary objects, consists of such 
as we can not help seeing, hearing, feeling, etc. : 
as heaven and earth and the various objects 
they contain, as also other men with whom we 
live. The rule we are to follow in the use of 
these, is to make them all serve, as the Saints 
did, to raise our thoughts and affections to God. 

As to those things, the use, or at least the 
desire, of which is left to our free choice, such as 



SECOND MEDITATION. 103 

this or that state of life, this or that employ- 
ment ; riches or poverty, etc. ; the rule is, that 
we should remain, with regard to all these 
things, in a state of perfect indifierence; we 
should carefully consider the relation they bear 
to the service of God, who is at the same time 
their last end and ours. We should invariably 
embrace that which leads us to that end, and 
reject, with horror, whatever removes us from 
its attainment. 

Examine whether you have followed these 
rules ; see what has hitherto prevented you from 
serving God as you ought. Grieve for the faults 
you have committed in the use of creatures. 
Embrace these rules, and resolve to conform 
your life to them in the future. 

THIRD POINT. 

How necessary and advantageous these rules are. 

First, Necessary: For unless we comply with 
them, we can never fulfill the promise we have 
made to God in the preceding meditation, to be 
His, to serve Him alone, to be wholly His, and 
always His, as justice and gratitude require : the 
greatest obstacle, and for many the only ob- 
stacle to this duty, being their disorderly affec- 
tion to some created object. Whatever we can 



104 FIRST DAY. 

do for God, ^Yitllout observing these rules, A\dll 
be reduced to an esteem and preference, of mere 
siDeculation. We shall love and serve God with 
our tongues, not with our hearts. "Ah! my 
little children," says St. John, " let us not love 
in words, or in tongue, but indeed and in truth !" 

Second, Advantageous: In them w^e find 
the safety of our innocence ; sin being nothing 
else besides an attachment to creatures, against 
the design of the Creator. We are thereby ele- 
vated above earthly things and all the vicissi- 
tudes of human life; we enjoy tranquillity of 
mind ; all things turn to our profit. " To those 
who love God," says St. Paul, " all things work 
together unto good." These rules are an abridg- 
ment of Christian wisdom. By them man is re- 
stored, in some measure, to the liberty and inde- 
pendence of his former origin. He acquires a 
sort of empire over all created things. 

Attach yourself, therefore, to these rules. 
Resolve to embrace with more zeal such of 
them as you have hitherto transgressed. Beg 
of God to disengage and separate your heart 
from all that is not Himself, and to give you the 
grace never to depart from these holy rules. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 105 



VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "Great are the works of the Lord; ex- 
quisitely fitted to all His purposes." ( Psalms.) 

2. "Grant, oh Lord! that we may so pass 
through temporal goods, that we may not lose 
those which are eternal; and that amidst the 
variety of worldly objects, our hearts may be 
there fixed, where eternal joys are found." 
( Prayer of the Church.) 

Read " Following of Christ," Book III., chaps. 31 and 34. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 

On the difference between attaching: ourselves to God, and attaching 
ourselves to creatures. 

First prelude. Imagine yourself placed be- 
tween God and creatures, each calling for your 
affection, and, as if you were deliberating to 
which side you should turn yourself. 

Second prelude. Beg of God not to permit 
you to be so blind, as to give the preference to 
creatures over the Creator. 



106 FIRST DAY. 

FIRST POINT. 

First difiference. 

It is a great honor to attach one's self to 
God ; it is a great disgrace to attach one's self 
to creatures. 

Our heart transforms itself into the object of 
our love. In attaching itself to^Ood, it becomes 
in some measure divine ; it becomes earthly if we 
love the earth. And what have we to do with 
the world ? We who are so much greater than 
the world. Creatures are made for our use, and 
we only for God. The world shall pass away, 
but we shall not pass away. Can I forget the 
nobility of my first origin ? I am the offspring 
of God. God is my Father, I am His child and 
the heir of His kingdom ; destined to see Him 
face to face, and enjoy Him for eternity: there- 
fore, to attach myself to what is not God is de- 
basing, degrading myself. — ^Wliat ! Men esteem 
it a great honor to serve kings, and behold, God 
will have me to be His servant! What do I 
say? To be His child, His friend. His favorite! 
And should I receive His offer with indifference, 
with insensibility? "He will long be httle and 
lie groveling to the earth," says the pious 
A'Kempis, ' who shall esteem any thing great^ 



THIRD MEDITATION. 107 

except the Sovereign, Immense, Eternal Good ; 
and whatsoever is not God, is nothing, and ought 
to be counted as notliing." 

Let us leisurely consider and relish these 
two great words : God is all ; Creatures are 
nothing. 

SECOND POESTT. 

Second difference. 

In attaching ourselves to God, we become 
happy ; in attaching ourselves to creatures, we 
become miserable. 

This we have already many times experi- 
enced. All our troubles arise from our attach- 
ment to creatures. Before we possess them, we 
are tormented by unceasing desires. When we 
have obtained them, we are not contented, be- 
cause our hearts remain empty. A little that is 
wanting seems to poison all that is already pos- 
sessed. The fleeting nature of these objects, 
the fear of losing them, the grief of having lost 
them, the necessity of being separated from 
them by death, all contribute to embitter the 
possession of them ; and the greater our attach- 
ment is, the greater also becomes our torment. 

The words of St. Augustine are an oracle for 
all such as are not entirely blinded by passion. 
10 



108 FIRST DAY. 

"Thou hast made us for Thyself O Lord, and 
our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee !" 
Yes, our hearts will be a prey to trouble, un- 
easiness, agitation, and remorse, until forsaking 
all affection to created things, they seek their 
rest in God alone. God has so ordained it, and 
His orders are executed. Every disorderly 
affection becomes its own first punishment. 
But if I once fix my affections on God alone, if 
I sincerely attach myself to Him, I begin to en- 
joy rest and contentment; because, then, my 
heart rests in its center, and has found an object 
capable of filling the vast capacity of its desires. 
And this advantage I can enjoy this moment, if 
I please. I can, this moment, become the friend 
of God, and begin to enjoy the possession of my 
sovereign Good. To be the Mend of God! To 
have God Himself for my Friend ! What happi- 
ness ! He is a Friend whom no one can take 
from me. He is not inconstant and will not 
forsake me, if I do not forsake Him first. 



THIRD POINT. 

Third difference. 

In attaching ourselves to creatures, we be- 
come criminal. In attaching ourselves to God, 



THIRD MEDITATION. 109 

we preserve our innocence; we sanctify and 
perfect ourselves. 

Let us recall to mind so many sins, perhaps 
so many crimes, we have been guilty of; the 
imminent danger of damnation to which we 
have been exposed ; so many sinful habits which 
we have contracted, and which have been a 
fruitful source of disorderly actions ; whence did 
all this proceed, but from our irregular and mul- 
tiplied attachments to created objects? We 
w^ould still enjoy our first innocence, if we had 
carefully preserved our hearts from such attach- 
ments. In vain do we hope to divide ourselves 
between God and His creatures, and to satisfy 
both at the same time. No; he who seeks to 
please creatures, shall never please God. Ah ! 
how innocent is the heart, that seeks to please 
God alone ! How innocent, how holy ! In pleas- 
ing God, he may even content creatures ; be- 
cause God commands us to render to creatures, 
whatever is truly due to them. As the servant 
of God advances in sanctity, he becomes more 
just, more zealous, more meek, more conde- 
scending, more disinterested, more exact in the 
observance of every duty. All, then, is vanity, 
besides knowing, loving, and serving God. I say 
too little : All is baseness, trouble, and affliction 
of spirit; all is a snare, aU is danger, all is a 



110 FIRST DAY. 

irightful precipice; besides attaching and de- 
voting ourselves to God alone. 

After forming your good resolutions, finish 
by reciting slowly the Lord's Prayer, and apply- 
ing every petition of it to your subject, in a fer- 
vent colloquy. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "What is there for me in Heaven? And 
besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? Oh 
thou God of my heart! Oh God! my portion 
forever.'' (Psalm Ixxii. 25, 26.) 

2. " It is good for me to adhere to my God ; 
and to put my hopes in the Lord, my God.'' 
(Psalm xvi. 28.) 

Go, world, with all thy pompous train, 

I care nothing for thee : 
Thy joys, wealth, glory I disdain; 

My God is all to me 1 

Read "Following of Christ." Book III. chaps. 16—21. 



FIRST MEDITATION. Ill 



SECOND DAY 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

ON THE ENORMITY OF MORTAL SIN FROM THE PUNISHMENT 
THEREOF. 

First prelude. Imagine yourself to be in 
the place, where you consider the punishment 
of sin, and behold the awful scene. 

Second prelude. Beg of God to enlighten 
you, that you may know the greatness of the 
guilt, by the greatness of the chastisement. 

FIRST POINT. 

Sin in Heaven. 

Let us recall to mind what faith teaches us 
on the fall of the angels. God had created 
beautiful spirits, and endowed them mth most 
precious graces and gifts. They suffered them- 
selves to be puffed up with pride, and refused to 
their Creator the tribute of adoration they owed 
Him. In an instant, they were hurled down 
into a place of torments, where they burn, and 
where they shall burn eternally, in an inextin- 
10 



112 SECOND DAY. 

guishable fire. Terrible judgment ! Let us draw 
consequences from it. First. Therefore, damna- 
tion may be incurred in the most holy places, in 
the most sublime state. 'No secure situation in 
this life. 

Second. Therefore, neither past innocence, 
nor the gifts of nature or grace can make us 
secure. 

Third. Therefore, one single sin, a first sin, 
the sin of a moment, is sufficient to associate us 
with deyils. 

Fourth. Therefore, the goodness of God and 
His mercy do not always put a stop to the 
strokes of His justice. 

But let us turn our eyes on ourselves. The 
angels had committed but one sin ; and I have 
committed so many. It was a sin only of 
thought, or at most of desire, and my conscience 
reproaches me with so many sinful actions. 
They never were forgiven, and I have so 
many times obtained pardon of my sins. Give 
thanks to God for His patience and mercj^ to- 
wards you. Fear the rigor of His justice. De- 
test sin, the object of the horror and vengeance 
of your God. Grieve for those you have com- 
mitted. Resolve to cleanse your soul from 
them, and carefully avoid them for the future. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 113 

SECOND POINT. 
Sin in the earthly Paradise. 

Eve, seduced by the devil, under the form 
of a serpent, eats of the forbidden fruit. Adam, 
by her persuasion, eats also of it. By this trans- 
gression, they both lose the grace and friendship 
of their Creator; they forfeit the privilege of 
immortality ; they are driven out of the earthly 
Paradise. God is not yet satisfied. Their unfor- 
tunate posterity shall be infected with the con- 
tagion, and disgraced with the stain of that sin; 
millions shall be deprived, on that sole account, 
of the happiness of Heaven; even those, who 
vnll be cleansed from that stain shall groan un- 
der a flood of miseries. Adam himself, after 
being forgiven, shall be condemned to nine hun- 
dred years of a most rigorous i^enance ; viz. to 
eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, to see 
murder in his own family, and to hear himself 
reproached until his death by his children, with 
his being the first author of their disorders and 
of their misfortunes. Now, compare your own 
sins with that of Adam. His was only one sin, 
and yours are multiplied over the hairs of your 
head. His was punished even in those who are 
not personally guilty of it : what, then, do mine 



114 SECOND DAY. 

deserve, which are personally my own? In fine, 
if God sometimes punishes without mercy, as 
He did the angels. He never forgives without 
requiring a rigorous satisfaction. 



THHID POINT. 

Sin in Hell. 

Behold in spirit that multitude of reprobate 
souls, now condemned to the flames of Hell, suf- 
fering there inexpressible, unrelenting, and ever- 
lasting tortures. Ah! if Hell were now opened 
to your view, how many souls would you find 
there, who were cast into these fiery dungeons 
for one single mortal sin ? How many of the 
same profession, of the same age, of the same 
natural dispositions, as yourself? How many 
for abusing the same graces, for committing the 
same sins, as you do ? How many for sins much 
less than yours? You should have been with 
them long ago, had God treated you in the rigor 
of His justice. They are the creatures of God, 
and in that quality are dear to Him. He is 
goodness and mercy itself; He never punishes 
but when provoked to it, and, as it were, with 
regret. What a monster, then, mortal sin must 
be in His sight! Conceive a new horror of it. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 115 

Efface yours by a timely repentance. Renounce 
them forever. 

FOURTH POINT. 

Sin on Mount Calvary. 

Place yourself at the foot of the Cross, and 
behold the Son of God expiring on an ignomin- 
ious gibbet; bleeding and dying in the most 
excruciating torments, for the expiation of sin. 
Sin is, then, so horrid an evil, so enormous an 
offense of God, that His justice would be satis- 
for its expiation with nothing less than the 
death and blood of His own beloved Son! 
Hence, conclude that sin must be an infinite 
evil, since a life of infinite value, and a blood 
infinitely precious, are actually required to 
atone for it. Oh, how eloquently do the blood, 
the sufferings, the gaping wounds of my Jesus, 
speak to me of the enormity of my crimes! 
Oh, what a monster must I appear in my own 
eyes, when I consider that, by my repeated 
treasons and ingratitudes I have crucified my 
Jesus, covered Him with wounds, spilt His 
sacred blood to the last drop, and been the 
murderer of my God! How hard my heart 
must be if this sight does not move me to 
repentance ! If, beholding my Saviour covered 
with wounds and blood, and dying for my sins, 



116 SECOND DAY. 

I can not be prevailed on, at least to minglo 
the tears of my sorrow with the streams of 
precious blood, that flow from every part of 
His sacred body. 

Recite ^-Our Father," "Soul of Christ," etc. 
VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " Fly from sin, as from the face of a ser- 
pent.^' ( Eccles. xxi. 2.) 

2. "I have hated and abhorred iniquity." 
(Ps. cxviii. 163.) 

3. " He has been wounded for our iniquities : 
He has been bruised for our sins ; we have all 
strayed as sheep, the Lord has put on Him the 
iniquities of us all." ( Isaias, liii.) 

4. " He has carried our sins in His body, on 
the wood." ( St. Peter.) 

Read "Following of Christ," book i. c. 21; book iii. 4. 



CONSIDERATION. 

The effects of mortal sin on the soul of the sinner. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. Present yourself before God 
like a criminal loaded with chains, brought from 



CONSIDERATION. 117 

the dungeon of a prison and placed before the 
tribunal of his judge. 

Second prelude. Beg of our Lord that He 
will vouchsafe to show you the sad state of a 
soul which has been so unhappy as mortally to 
offend God : " Give me, Lord, that I may see." 
( Luke xviii. 41.) 

FIRST CONSIDERATION. 

Bj mortal sin we forfeit the friendship of God. 

When you were in a state of grace, God dwelt 
in your soul : " If any man love Me, My Father 
will love him, and We will come to him, and 
will make Our abode with him." ( John xiv. 23.) 
The most august bonds united you to Him. He 
called you His people: "Thou art My people." 
( Osee ii. 24.) His friend : " I have called you 
friends.'' ( John xv. 15.) His spouse : " Thou hast 
wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse." ( Cant, 
iv. 9.) His children : " Behold what manner of 
charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that 
we should be called, and should be, the sons of 
God." (1 John iii. 1.) Another self: "I have 
said ye are gods." ( Psalm Ixxxi. 6.) But what a 
change since mortal sin entered into your soul ! 
That moment God left your heart: "Woe to 
theni, when I shall depart from them." ( Osee ix. 
12.) To his friendshii^ has succeeded hatred: 
" Thou hatest all the works of iniquity." ( Psalm 
V. 7.) You have ceased to be His people : " Te 
are not My people, and I will not be yours." 
( Osee i. 9.) In His eyes you are now an enemy 



118 SECOND DAY. 

on whom He has sworn vengeance : "I live for 
ever; I will render vengeance to my enemies." 
( Deut. xxxii. 40, 41.) He no longer recognizes 
you as His spouse : " I know you not." ( Matt. 
XXV. 12.) In you He no longer sees any thing 
but the child of Satan : " Ye are of your father, 
the devil." ( John viii. 44.) He has no longer 
any thing for you but maledictions: "If thou 
wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, 
cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the 
field, cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb. 
And all these curses shall come upon thee, and 
shall pursue and overtake thee, until thou per- 
ish." ( Deut. xxviii. 15-17, 45.) He arms every 
scourge against you: "Death and bloodshed, 
strife and the sword, oppressions, famine, afflic- 
tions, scourges : all these things are created for 
the wicked." ( Eccles. xl. 9, 10.) O guilty soul, 
consider what thou hast been, and what thou 
now art in the eyes of thy Lord; and sigh 
deeply at the sight of thy misery. "Thou wast 
the spouse of Christ, the temple of God, the 
sanctuary of the Holy Ghost ; and as often as I 
say Hhou wast,' I must needs groan, because 
thou art not what thou wast." ( St. Augustine.) 



SECOND CONSIDERATION. 

Mortal sin deprives us of all the gifts of grace. 

1. It destroys tlie heauty of the soul. A soul 
in a state of grace attracts the looks and rav- 
ishes the heart of God: "I will fix my eyes 
upon thee." ( Psalm xxxi. 8.) " Behold, thou art 



CONSIDERATION. 119 

fair, O my love." ( Cant. i. 14.) But mortal sin 
destroys all traces of this beauty: "All her 
beauty is departed," ( Lament, i. 6 ; ) and covers 
the soul with a liideous leprosy, which makes it 
an object of horror to God and His angels. 

2. It deprives the soul of all merit. Even if 
you united in yourself all the merits of all the 
saints together, all their alms, all their prayers, 
all their austerities, all their sacrifices — a single 
mortal sin would be enough to destroy all: "If 
the just man turn himself away from his justice, 
and do iniquity, all his justices which he hath 
done shall not be remembered." ( Ezech. xviii. 24.) 

3. It deprives the soul of all poicer of merit- 
ing. Yes ; if you are in mortal sin, all your 
good works are useless to obtain Heaven. 
Spend all your goods in alms ; embrace the 
most rigorous austerities ; convert the whole 
world, if it be possible ; give your body to the 
flames — St. Paul assures you that all this is 
useless for salvation if there be a single sin 
in your heart: "If I have not charity I am 
nothing." ( Cor. xiii. 2.) To what can I compare 
you, O unhappy soul ? " To what shall I com- 
pare thee, or to what shall I liken thee, O 
daughter of Jerusalem?" (Lam. ii. 13.) To a 
vine loaded with fruit suddenly destroyed by 
the storm; to a temple unexpectedly over- 
thrown; to a ship that the tempest suddenly 
sinks with all her treasures ; to a rich city which 
fire has reduced to a heap of burning ashes: 
" To what shall I equal thee, that I mav comfort 
thee ? . . . . Who shall heal thee ? " ( Lam. ii. 13.) 

11 



120 SECOND DAY. 

THIRD CONSIDERATION^. 

Mortal sin deprives us of our liberty. 

AVhen yon are in a state of grace, 3^on are 
free : " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is 
liberty." (2 Cor. iii. 17.) Yon enjoy the sweet- 
est, the most honorable liberty ; the only liberty 
that no power in the world can deprive yon of, 
liberty conquered for you by the blood of Jesus 
Christ : " The fr-eedom wherewith Christ has 
made us free," ( Gal. iv. 31 ; ) wliich consists in 
freedom from every yoke except that of God, 
which we can not lose without degrading our- 
selves. But have you had the unhappiness to 
sin mortally ? You have become a slave : "Who- 
soever committeth sin is the servant of sin." 
(John viii. 34.) You are given over to sin: 
"Sold under sin." (Rom. vii. 11.) The devil 
reigns as master in your heart, which is your 
prison : " He hath built against me round about, 
that I may not get out." (Lam. iii. 7.) Each 
day he tightens his chains about us : " He hath 
made my fetters heavy." ( Lam. iii. 7.) Every 
thing within you is enslaved: your faculties, 
your senses, your talents, your fortune. Is it 
not true that, in this sad state, you have often 
wished to return to God, to pray, to confess, to 
avoid the occasions of sin, to break through the 
habit of sin? Did the devil permit it? Has he 
not treated you as the centurion in the Gospel 
treated his soldiers : " I say to one. Go, and he 
goeth ; and to another, Come, and he cometh ; 



CONSIDEKATION. 121 

and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." 
( Luke vii. 8.) Has he not always said to yon, 
"Bring, bring,'^ ( Prov. xxx. 15:) — again this 
passion; again this sin. Has he not always 
been obeyed? Finally, is it not the story of 
your slavery that St. Augustine tells mth so 
much force when he describes the servitude of 
his own passions : " I sighed, chained as I was, 
not by iron, but by my own will, stronger even 
than iron. My own will held me bound ;• and 
it was of it that the enemy of salvation made 
use to enchain me, and surround me on all sides 
by inextricable bonds." ( Oonf., book viii. c. 5.) 



FOURTH CONSIDERATION. 

Mortal sin robs us of peace of heart. 

A soul which belongs to God knows no trou- 
ble or fear: "The just is bold as a lion." ( Prov. 
xxviii. 1.) The heart of the just is like an eter- 
nal festival: "A secure mind is like a continual 
feast." (Prov. xv. 15.) Even in the midst of 
tribulations he tastes ineffable joys: "I exceed- 
ingly abound with joy in all my tribulations." 
( 2 Cor. vii. 4.) But how different is it with the 
sinner; every where he carries a trembling 
heart, a heart a prey to sorrow: "Kyou will not 
hear the voice of the Lord, He will give thee a 
fearful heart, and a soul consumed with pensive- 
ness." ( Dent, xxviii. 15, 65.) Tribulation and 
anguish penetrate the depths of his soul : " Trib- 
ulation and anguish upon every soul of man 



122 SECOND DAY. 

that worketh evil." ( Kom. ii. 9.) Remorse is in 
the conscience like an arrow which lacerates it : 
" I am turned in my anguish whilst the thorn is 
fastened." ( Psalm xxxi. 4.) And his life is like 
the waves of the sea tossed by a storm: "The 
wicked are like the raging sea." ( Isa. Ivii. 20.) 
God has no need to arm the hand of man against 
the sinner; his conscience pursues him inces- 
santly, and is at once witness, judge, and execu- 
tioner; it accuses, condemns, and tortures him. 
Sometimes it pursues him in the midst of serious - 
occupations, like David — " I walked sorrowful all 
the day long, there is no peace for my bones 
because of my sins," ( Psalm xxxvii. 4, 7 ; ) 
sometimes amidst pleasures, like Baltassar ; 
sometimes amidst the pain of sickness, like 
Antiochus ; almost always in silence and solitude, 
like Cain. To some it reproaches the pleasure 
of a moment purchased by a long repentance : 
"What fi'uit, therefore, had you then in those 
things of which you are now ashamed ? " ( Pom. 
vi. 21.) To others it shows all the bitterness of 
iniquity: "Know thou, and see that it is an evil 
and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord 
thy God." ( Jer. ii. 19.) To some it recalls in- 
cessantly the ingratitude and malice of their 
sin : " Thj own wickedness shall reprove thee, 
and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee." ( Jer. ii. 19.) 
To others it shows the sword of God's justice 
suspended over their heads: "Looking round 
about for the sword on every side." ( Job xv. 22.) 
It causes cries of vengeance to be heard around 
them: "The sound of dread is always in liis 



CONSIDERATION. 123 

ears." (Job xv. 21.) It disturbs their sleep 
with threatening visions: "Thou wilt jfrighten 
me with dreams, and terrify me with visions." 
( Job vii. 14.) " O sinner, what misery is yours ! 
How much are you to be pitied if your con- 
science thus pursues you! Yet you are still 
more so if your conscience leave you in peace." 
( St. Aug.) For this peace of a guilty conscience 
is the certain sign of the great wrath of God. 

FIFTH CONSmERATION. 

Mortal sin destroys the soul. 

The soul is the life of the body, and God is 
the life of the soul. Thus sin Idlls our soul in 
separating it from God: "The soul that sinneth, 
the same shall die." (Ezech. xviii. 20.) Look 
at the man who has mortally offended the Lord ; 
he walks, he sees, he speaks, and you think he 
lives. Ah ! what lives in him is the body, the 
soul has ceased to hve. "The most noble part 
is extinct; the house stands, but the inhabitant 
is dead. Christian, there is no longer any 
feeling of piety in your heart, if you weep over 
the body from which the soul has departed, and 
yet shed no tear over the soul from which God 
has departed." ( St. Aug.) 

And what difference is there between a corpse 
and a soul in mortal sin ? A corpse has lost the 
use of all its senses. Is not this a faithful image 
of the sinner? 

1. A dead man no longer sees. Every thing 
ought to strike the eyes of the sinner ; — the 



124 SECOND DAY. 

state of his soul, the grave ready to open for 
him — judgment, hell, eternity; and the sinner 
sees nothing! 

2. The dead no longer hears. Every thing 
speaks to the sinner; — conscience, grace, events, 
ministers of religion; and the sinner hears 
nothing! 

3. The dead are insensible. Neither insults 
nor honors, neither the attentions of men nor 
theh^ contempt, can touch them. God moves 
Heaven and earth to touch the sinner ; He en- 
deavors to rouse liim, sometimes by benefits, 
sometimes by affictions ; and the sinner remains 
insensible ! 

4. The dead exhale an infectious odor. A 
corpse if not placed in the grave, spreads around 
it a fatal contagion. The sinner exhales an 
odor of corruption ; the contagion of his scandals 
spreads death around him, and the infection of 
his vices makes him an object of horror to just 
men, to angels, and to God. 

O fatal death! O death which deprives us, 
not of the life of nature, but of the life of grace ; 
that is to say, of the life of God ! Who will 
give us tears to bewail thee? "Who will give 
water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my 
eyes? and I will weep day and night for the 
slain of the daughter of my people." ( Jer. ix. 1.) 

APFECTIONS AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. 

"Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all 
that He hath done for thee ; . . . . who healeth 



SECOND MEDITATION. 125 

all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thee from de- 
struction." ( Psalm cii. 2, 4.) 

Pater, Ave. 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

ON OUR OWN SINS. 

First 'prelude. Represent to yosurelf your 
own soul, under the figure of a criminal, bound 
hands and feet, lying in a dark dungeon, covered 
with filth and ulcers. 

Second prelude. Earnestly beseech the 
divine Goodness, for some rays of light to know 
the number and enormity of your sins. 

FIRST POINT. 

How enormous our sins are, both by their number and grievousness. 

1. Recall to your mind, that unhappy time, 
when, being in the forgetfulness of God, you 
abandoned yourself to your disorderly passions. 
How numerous and how enormous your sins 
were! Alas! You sinned perhaps as soon as 
the use of reason rendered you capable of sin- 
ning. Almost every day brought out new irreg- 
ularities. You sinned by all the powers of your 



126 SECOND DAY. 

soul, and all the senses and members of j^our 
body. See if you can find many of the com- 
mandments of God, or of the Church, which you 
have not violated ; any of the Seven Deadly 
Sins, which you have not been guilty of, etc. 
And were not many of your sins very enormous, 
either by their nature or their circumstances ; 
because of the scandal which arose from them, 
or the sanctity of your state, or the particular 
favors which you have received from the divine 
Goodness ? 

2. Ever since your conversion to God, could 
you truly say that you have not been a great 
sinner ? Judge yourself impartially. Have you 
been free from all mortal sins ? Have you not 
reason to fear that you have been guilty of 
many? Consider how little respect and love 
you have had for God, how ungrateful you 
have been for His benefits, how slothful and 
ignorant in His service; how full of human 
respect ; how little charity you have had for your 
neighbor; how much you have been attached 
to your own will, and to your own judgment; 
how much you still love your flesh, your honor^ 
your interest ; always proud, ambitions, passion- 
ate, vain, envious, a lover of your ease, incon- 
stant, sensual, etc. Let us not look at each of 
these sins in particular; they would perhaps 



SECOXD MEDITATION. 127 

appear to us of little consequence. Let us look 
at their multitude, at their continuance, at that 
long series of infidelities, of ingratitudes, of 
abuse of graces. Let us admire the goodness 
of God, who has borne with us so long. Let us 
give Him thanks for it. Let us confound our- 
selves and grieve at the sight of iniquities so 
multipKed and so enormous. 

SECOITO POESTT. 

How much we ought to fear at the sight of the multitude and 
enormity of our sins. 

God might have punished us, after the first 
mortal sin we committed, as He did the rebel- 
lious Angels. He has not done it; we are still 
living, and it is perhaps, what makes us so uncon- 
cerned. However, it is certain jfrom the Sacred 
Scriptures, that tliere is a certain measure of sins, 
which being filled up, the mercy of God gives 
place to His avenging justice. Our measure is 
perhaps, well nigh full ; perhaps the very first 
sin w^hich we shall hereafter commit, may draw 
down upon us the stroke of God's avenging 
hand. Moreover, there are sins that cry to 
Heaven for vengeance, either by their nature, 
heinousness, and malice, by the great evils they 
produce, or by the character of the sinner, w^ho 



128 SECOND DAY. 

profanes either the sanctity of his state, or the 
dignity of his functions. Do we not find some 
sin of this kind among those which we have 
committed. 

Let ns conceive a salutary fear. Let us re- 
solve to renounce even the smallest offenses. 



THIRD POINT. 

What penance so many and so grievous offenses require. 

God is willing to forgive when we repent, 
but His justice does not give up all its rights. 
The penitent must punish himself, if he wishes 
not to fall into the hands of the Living God. 
What, then, ought to be our penance, after so 
many and so grievous offenses? The Church 
formerly prescribed several years of penance 
for one single sin. Sin does not now deserve 
less punishment than it did then. According to 
this calculation, had we many ages to live, alas ! 
perhaps, we should scarcely have time enough 
fully to satisfy the justice of God. Therefore, 
if we are wise, and understand our own true 
interest, we shall devote ourselves to a life of 
penance. We shall forbid ourselves every pleas- 
ure, every diversion, however innocent, which 
is not necessary. Labor, austerity, affictions, 



THIRD MEDITATION. 129 

solitude, works of charity, etc., will make up 
the series of our life. 

Let us humble ourselves before God. Let 
us be little in our own eyes. Let us humble 
ourselves at the feet of all men; voluntary 
humiliation is our only resource. Let us be- 
seech God to grant us the spirit of penance. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " I know my iniquity, and my sin is always 
against me." ( Psalm 1. 4.) 

2. "I will confess against myself my iniquity, 
to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the impiety 
of my sin." ( Psalm xxxi. 5.) 

3. "Bring forth fruits worthy of penance." 
( Matt. iv. 8.) 

Read "Following of Christ," book iii. c. 52; bookiv. c. 7. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 

ON HELL. 



First prelude. Represent to your imagina- 
tion an immense abyss, full of fiery waves and of 
millions of reprobate souls, imprisoned in fiery 



130 SECOND DAY. 

bodies, devoted to the action of those everlast- 
ing flames. 

Second prelude. Beg of God to give you a 
lively feeling and apprehension of the pains 
which are suffered by the damned ; to the end 
that, if love does not as yet restrain you from 
sin, at least, the fear of those pains may pro- 
duce that salutary effect. 

FIRST POINT. 

The pain of loss. 

As the possession of God is the sovereign 
happiness of Heaven; so the privation of God 
is the sovereign misery of Hell. That privation 
is not severely felt by the sinner in this life, 
because he is distracted and led- away by thous- 
ands of objects and amusements, to which he 
gives all his attention. But in Hell such dis- 
tractions are impossible. A profound solitude, 
a forced recollection, do not permit the soul of 
the reprobate to be for one instant distracted 
from the thought of what she has lost. She 
clearly sees that God is her sovereign good ; for 
which she was created, and- in which alone she 
can find her true happiness. Hence she is 
drawn towards Him with inexpressible force ; she 
makes the most violent efforts to fly from the 



THIRD MEDITATIOX. 131 

midst of the flames to the bosom of God; but 
she finds herself repulsed with as much violence, 
and confined with in^dsible chains, to those fiery 
dungeons. For an increase of her misery, she 
is made a witness of the bliss, joy, and trans- 
ports of the blessed, whom she beholds, from 
the place of her torments, in the bosom of God, 
as the rich reprobate " saw Abraham afar off and 
Lazarus in his bosom." ( Luke xvi. 23.) " The 
mcked shall see," says the Royal Prophet, 
( Psalm cxi.) " and he shall be angry ; he shall 
gnash his teeth and pine away: The desire of 
the mcked shall perish." I have lost my God, 
and lost Him by my own fault ! Lost Him for 
vain and perishable goods ! And lost Him for- 
ever! 

Adhere now to God, if you would not lose 
Him for all eternity. 

SECOND POINT. 

The pain of sense. 

In Hell all the senses are most cruelly tor- 
mented; each of them has its peculiar torture. 
The sight is afflicted by the horrid darkness of 
the dismal place ; which, however, is such as to 
allow a sort of gloomy light, that discovers to 
the reprobate the most frightful objects. The 



132 SECOND DAY. 

hearing is tormented by the howlings of devils, 
the shrieks of the damned, the continual out- 
cries, curses, blasphemies, and oaths, with which 
those dismal vaults perpetually resound. The 
smell is afflicted by the most noisome scent and 
intolerable stench. " The taste is embittered with 
the gall of dragons," says the Holy Scripture, 
" and the incurable venom of asps ; " to which are 
joined a most tormenting hunger and excruciat- 
ing thirst. Witness the rich reprobate, above 
mentioned. The feeling is of all the senses the 
one most cruelly tortured. "There a fire is 
kindled," says the Prophet, "by the breath of the 
wrath of God," as hj a torrent of sulphur, having 
the property of burning even souls; endowed 
with a kind of discernment to proportion its 
rigor to the guilt of the criminal; and like 
salt, having the property of preserving bodies 
incorrupt and always fresh for suffering. Re- 
present to yourself a reprobate, plunged soul 
and body into this devouring fire. Fire is the 
bed on which he is stretched. Fire is his cover- 
ing. Fire is his food. Fire is the air he breathes. 
Fire penetrates into his very bowels, into the 
marrow of his bones ! What a situation ! Oh, 
pleasure of sin, whither do you lead ? " Wliich 
of you," exclaims the Prophet Isaiah, "will be 



THIRD MEDITATION. 133 

able to dwell in a devouring fire? Who shall 
abide with everlasting burning ? " 

Fear those dreadful torments ; detest your 
sins, which have exposed you to them. Thank 
God for having spared you, when you provoked 
His wrath by your repeated insults. Suflfer any 
pains, rather than fall into those of Hell. 

THIRD POINT. 

The worm of conscience. 

"Their worm dieth not," says the Gospel. It 
preys on their hearts with everlasting rigor. 
This worm is composed of the following ingredi- 
ents : First, Of their own sins, which during life 
they would not see, but which are now contin- 
ually present to their minds, in all their hideous 
shapes, like so many enraged torturers ; Second, 
Of the sins of others, which either they caused to 
be committed, or encouraged by their example, 
or connived at by their silence ; Thu^d, Of the 
graces they have received and abused ; here, it is 
the blood of Jesus Christ, which called a long 
time for mercy, but now calls for vengeance 
against them. The mercy of God, the love of 
their Redeemer now torment them more than 
all the rigor of His justice or the rage of their 
executioners. Fourth, Of the presence and 



134 SECOND DAY. 

reproaches of their companions, formerly in crime, 
now in suffering. Hell is a place of strife and 
discord. To all this, add the rage, anguish, and 
despair, which continually rack those unhappy 
wretches, at the thought, ever present to their 
minds, of the eternity of their torments. The 
feeling sense of that eternity forms an ingredient 
which seasons every suffering they endure. 

Repent now, if you are not willing to repent 
fruitlessly forever. You will prevent the eter- 
nal and unavailing remorses of Hell, by now 
listening and yielding to the seasonable remorses 
of a guilty conscience. Abhor and renounce 
sin, the parent of this never dying worm. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "O Lord, cast me not away from Thy 
face!" ( Psalm 1. 12.) 

2. "0 Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury, nor 
chastise me in Thy wrath ! " ( Psalm vi.) 

3. "Knowest thou not, that the benignity of 
God leadeth thee to repentance, but according 
to thy hardness, and thy impenitent heart, thou 
treasurest unto thyself treasures of wrath unto 
the Day of Wrath! " ( Rom. ii. 4, 5.) 

Read " FollowiDg of Christ/' book i. c. 24. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 135 



THIRD DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

OJT DEATH. 

First prelude. Imagine yourself to be on 
your death-bed, informed that your last hour is 
at hand, surrounded by your friends in tears, and 
upon the point of expiring. 

Second prelude. Beg of God, that you may 
experience now the same sentiments as you 
will have then. 

FIRST POINT. 

The certainty and circumstances of Death, 

"It is decreed for aU men to die once." ( Heb. 
ix. 27.) No one can escape the execution of 
that decree. But what is Death ? A separation 
from the world, and whatever is most dear in 
the world. Why then would you attach your- 
self to creatures? What is Death? A separa- 
tion of the soul from the body. The soul returns 
to God in order to be judged. The body is 

committed to the grave, falls into rottenness, 
12 



136 THIRD DAY. 

and becomes the food of worms. Why would 
you then take so much care of your body? 
Why would you sacrifice to its appetites the 
dearest interests of your soul? What is Death? 
It is the end of time. For the man that dies, 
time shall be no more. No more time to do 
penance, to receive graces, to do good works. 
"Ergo dum tempus liabemus,operemur bonum — 
Therefore, whilst we have time, let us do good." 
What is Death ? It is the beginning of Eternity, 
a two-fold Eternity, of bliss, of torments. If 
you are mse, you will lay up treasures for the 
former, and secure yourself against the latter. 

SECOND POINT. 

The uncertainty of death. 

First. Uncertainty of the time. "You know 
neither the day nor the hour." Neither youth, 
nor health, nor riches can avert the blow. There- 
fore "be j^e ever ready ! " Second. Uncertainy of 
the manner. It may be violent ; it may be sudden ; 
it may be such, in fine, as to leave you neither 
time, nor power to prepare yourself Be, then, 
always ready: Watch at all times. It is not a 
sudden death that is to be feared ; but an un- 
I)rovided one. Tliird. Uncertainty of the state. 
You know not whether death will surprise you 



FIRST MEDITATION. 137 

in the state of grace, or in the state of sin. If 
you spend a good part of your hfe in sin, you 
have great reason to fear lest you die in sin. 
Were you but one hour in mortal sin, you have 
reason to dread lest you should be overtaken by 
death in that state. Strive, then, to remain 
always in a state of grace. 



THIRD POINT. 

Two different sorts of death. 

First. The death of the sinner. How dismal 
it is I " The death of sinners is very evil — Mors 
peccatorum pessima." If he turn his thoughts 
on the past, what painful recollections ! All his 
pleasures vanished; all his labors vain; a nu- 
merous train of sins that press heavily upon him. 
If he look at present objects, all is distressing. 
He is surprised; he must part from the dearest 
objects of his love. The scene is now dreadfully 
changed; objects now appear to him in a very 
different light from what they appeared during 
his hfe. If he cast an eye on futurity, it offers 
to him most terrifying objects : An angry God, 
before whom he is going to appear, a Heaven 
which he has slighted, and for which he has done 
nothing ; a Hell which he is conscious of deserv- 



138 . THIRD DAY. 

ing; an eternity of torments, to which he justly 
fears he is going to be condemned. 

Second. The death of the just. " Precious in 
the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints — 
pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors Sanctorum 
ejus." Subjects of consolation offer themselves 
to him on every side ; .a retrospect of his past 
life brings to his remembrance, either a pre- 
served innocence, or an innocence recovered 
and repaired by a sincere repentance, and works 
of penance: together witl\ a series of good 
works worthy a happy eternity. The present 
causes no surprise; he is prepared: no painful 
separation; he is disengaged: no change of 
scene; he has always viewed everything in the 
same light as he does at this moment. The 
future presents to him a God, whom he loves ; a 
heaven, for which he has labored, and which he 
hopes to possess ; a happy eternity, for which he 
has endeavored to provide. 

" Oh, may my soul die the death of the just^ 
and my end be made like unto theirs ! — Moria- 
tur anima mea morte Justorum, et fiant novis- 
sima mea horum simiha." 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS- 

1. "Oh Death! how bitter is the remem- 



CONSIDERATION. 139 

brance of thee, to a man who has peace in his 
possession!" (Eccle. xH. 1.) 

2. " Oh ! how great confidence a djdng man 
will have, whom no affection to any thing detains 
in this world!" 

Read " Following of Christ," book iii. c. 53 ; book i. c. 23. 



CONSIDERATIO:^. 

ON THE PUNISHMENT OF THE DAMNED. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. Imagine to yourself the height, 
the breadth, and the depth of hell. 

Second prelude. Ask of God a lively fear of 
the pains of hell, so that, if ever you are so un- 
happy as to lose the grace of the love of God, at 
least the fear of punishment may deter you from 
sin. 

FIRST CONSIDERATION. 

The habitation of the damned. 

It is hell. But what is hell ? The Holy Spirit 
calls it the place of torments. (St. Luke xvi. 28.) 
A prison, where the condemned shall be impris- 
oned by the justice of God, to be tormented 
through ages of ages : " They shall be shut up 



140 THIRD DAY. 

there in prison." (Isaiah xxiv. 22.) A region of 
misery, a darkness where an eternal horror 
dwells : " A land of misery and darkness, where 
the shadow of death and no order, but everlast- 
ing horror dwelleth." (Job x. 22.) A lake of 
fire and brimstone : " They shall have their por- 
tion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone." 
( Apoc. xxi. 8.) A deep valley, where a torrent 
of sulphur rolls, lighted by the breath of the 
Lord : " For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, 
prepared by the Elng, deep and wide ; the nour- 
ishments thereof are fire and much wood; the 
breath of the Lord, as a torrent of brimstone, 
doth kindle it." ( Isaias xxx. 33.) A burning fur- 
nace: "Tliou shalt make them as an oven of 
fire," ( Psalm xx. 10.) The depths of an abyss : 
" He opened the bottomless pit," ( Apoc. ix. 2 ; ) 
the smoke from which darkens the sun like the 
smoke fi'om a vast furnace; "And he opened 
the bottomless pit; and the smoke of the pit 
arose as the smoke of a great furnace." ( Apoc. 
ix. 2.) Finally, the anger of the Almighty is like 
a wine-press, in which an angry God will trample 
upon and crush His enemies: "And He treadeth 
the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of 
God the Almighty." (Apoc. xix. 15;) ''I have 
trampled on them in My indignation, and have 
trodden them down in My wrath." ( Isaias Ixiii. 3.) 



CONSIDERATION. 141 

SECOND CONSIDERATION. 

The company of the damned. 

In hell a triple society will form the torment 
of the condemned. 

1. The society of his body, which, to the in- 
fectious corruption of a corpse, will unite all the 
sensibility of a living frame, and every member 
of Avhich will have its torment and its pain. 

2. The society of devils. "There are spirits 
that are created for vengeance, and in their fury 
they lay on grievous torments." ( Ecclus. xxxix. 
33.) Damned themselves, they have no other 
occupation but to torture the damned. Not 
being able to revenge their reprobation on God, 
they revenge it on man. His image ; they pursue 
God in the condemned, and they pursue Him 
with all the hate and fury that can enter the 
hearts of demons. 

3. The society of an infinite number of 
wretched creatures damned like himself Repre- 
sent to yourself an assembly so hideous, that 
even in the galleys and prisons of human justice 
you could not find any thing like it ; an assembly 
of all that the earth has borne of licentious men, 
of robbers, of assassins, of parricides. Imagine 
to yourself all these wretches bound together, 
according to the expression of the Holy Spirit, 
like a bundle of thorns — " As a bundle of thorns 
they shall be burnt with fire," ( Isaias xxxiii. 12 ; ) 
or a heap of tow cast into the midst of the 
flames — " The congregation of sinners is like tow 



142 THIRD DAY. 

heaped together, and the end of them is a flame 
of fire." ( Ecclus. xxi. 10.) Represent to your- 
self in this horrible reunion the accomplices or 
the victims of the damned, bound and chained 
with him to burn in the same fire : " They them- 
selves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, 
and a long night." (Wis. xvii. 2.) What tor- 
ment for the unhappy man, not to be able to 
separate himself from the companions of his 
reprobation, who never cease to accuse him of 
their misfortune, and w^ho find a horrible con- 
solation in tearing him to pieces ! '' They have 
opened their mouths upon me, and reproaching 
me they have struck me on the cheek ; they are 
filled with my pains." ( Job xvi. 11.) 



THIRD CONSIDERATION. 

The punishment of the reprobate through the powers of his soul. 

1. Torment of tlie imagination. The imagina- 
tion of the damned presents his misery to him 
wdth incredible clearness. It represents to him 
all the pleasures of his past life. See how happy 
thou wert on earth ; thy life was but one tissue 
of delight and joy; all that is passed and can 
never return: "All those things have passed 
away." ( Wis. v. 9.) It shows him all he has suf- 
fered, all that he has yet to suffer. Oh, what 
j^ears thou hast burnt in hell, and yet thy eter- 
nity is not begun ! Oh, what ages and millions 
of ages will pass, and thou wilt have no other 
occupation but to burn ! It shows him heaven, 



CONSIDERATION. 143 

with all its felicity. How liappy thou wouldst 
be near Mary, near Jesus Christ. Listen to the 
songs of the blessed; behold those souls which 
love and possess God for all eternity. All that 
is lost for thee. "The wicked shall see, and 
shall be angiy, he shall gnash with his teeth and 
pine away ; the desire of the wicked shall perish." 
( Psalm cxi. 10.) 

2. Torment of memory, Tlie memory of the 
damned will recall all his sins: "What fruit, 
therefore, had you in those things of which jovl 
are now ashamed?'' (Rom. vi. 21.) It recalls all 
the trouble taken for advancement in this world: 
"What doth it profit?" (Wis. v. 8.) It recalls 
all the graces received — faith, a Christian educa- 
tion, the exami^le of so many virtuous persons, 
the instructions of the ministers of Jesus Christ, 
the Sacraments of the Church. "And have been 
able to show no mark of virtue," ( Wis. v. 13.) 
It recalls the warnings that V\^ere given on e^rth. 
How often has he not heard that it is terrible to 
faU into the hands of the living God, that there 
is no mercy in hell ! Why didst thou not listen 
to these wise warnings ? " Did I not protest to 
thee bv the Lord, and teU thee before ?" ( 3 Kings 
ii. 42.)"^ 

3. Torment of the icnderstanding. The un- 
derstanding of the reprobate never ceases to 
show him the deformity of sin, the great- 
ness and beauty of God, the justice of the 
l^unishment of hell. Thou wert made for God ; 
why hast thou refused Him thy heart ? God is 
so great. He is so perfect, He is so good ; who 

13 



144 THIRD DAY. 

deserved thy love and service as He did? Un- 
gratefal! thou hast abandoned thy benefactor. 
Perjured! thou hast dared to break thy oaths. 
Parricide ! thou hast wished to kill thy Father. 
Begone ! suffer for all eternity ; an eternal hell 
is not too much to punish thy crime. " Thou art 
just, O Lord, and Thy judgments are right." 
( Psalm cxviii. 137.) 

4. Torment of the will. Represent to your- 
self how the condemned soul is tormented. JBy 
its regrets : It was so easy to save myself Oh, 
why did I abuse the time and the grace of God? 
By its remorse: Woe to me! I was mad, a 
wretch ; I am lost through my own fault. JBy 
its jealousy : Why was such a one saved ? He 
had committed greater sins than I ; he had re- 
ceived fewer graces than I ; he is happy in heaven, 
and I burn in hell. By its desires : Oh, that I 
might return to the earth, that I might receive a 
few years of life ; I would frighten the w^orld by 
the rigors of my penance. Its reaching after 
God: Oh, that I might yet see Thee, Lord; that 
I might love, that I might possess thee ! Its im- 
precations : My prayer, then, is useless. Male- 
diction upon me! perish the day of my birth! 
destruction fall on my body, on my soul, which 
the anger of God pursues ! perish this unpitying 
God, who has nothing but vengeance for me ! 
"The wicked shall gnash his teeth and pine 
away; the desire of the wicked shall perish." 
(Psalm cxi. 10.) 



CONSIDERATION. 145 

FOURTH CONSIDERATION. 

The torment of the damned in all his senses. 

1. Torment of siglit. The aspect of this dreary 
prison — of the damned, the companions of his 
misery — of the demons, the executioners of the 
vengeance of God — of the cross of Jesus Christ 
printed on the vaults — of these terrible words 
engraved on the gates of hell, " evev^ never^'^ — 
of those flames which roar around him. 

2. Torment of hearing. The groans of so many 
millions of the damned — the howls of their de- 
spair — their blasphemies against God and against 
the saints — their imprecations on themselves — 
their cries of rage as they invoke death or anni- 
hilation — the reproaches they address to them- 
selves — the maledictions with which they load 
their accomplices — the noise of the flames de- 
vouring so many victims. 

3. Torment of smell. The horrible infection 
which exhales from so many bodies, which pre- 
serve in hell all the corruption of the grave: 
" Out of their carcasses shall rise a stink." (Is. 
xxxiv. 3.) 

4. Torment of taste, A maddening hunger — 
" they shall suffer hunger like dogs," ( Psalm 
Iviii. 7,) — the violence of which shall compel the 
damned to devour his own flesh: "Every one 
shall eat the flesh of his own arm." (Is. ix. 20.) 
A devouring thirst, and not one drop of water to 
refresh his parched tongue, no drink but worm- 
wood and gall : " Their wine is the gall of dragons 



146 THIRD DAY. 

and the venom of asps, which is incurable." 
(Dent, xxxii. 33.) For refreshment, a chalice 
which the anger of God has filled with fire, with 
sulphur, and the spirit of tempests : " Flames and 
brimstone and storms of winds shall be the por- 
tion of their cup." ( Psalm x. 7.) 

5. Torment of touch. The damned mil be en- 
veloped in flames as in a garment. The fire will 
penetrate all the members of his body — and what 
a fire! Not a fire like that on earth, which is a 
gift of the divine bounty, but a fire created by 
justice to punish sin; not a fire lighted by men — 
and yet what terrible power in a fire which cal- 
cines marble, melts metals ! — but a fire lighted 
and kept up by the breath of God, who avenges 
His oftenses, and avenges them without mercy, 
and avenges them according to the extent of His 
justice and His power; a fire which does not 
consume the victim, but which at one and the 
same time exhausts and renews that sensibility, 
and thus renders the pain eternal ; a fire armed 
with the attributes of God; His anger to punish. 
His knowledge to distinguish the senses which 
have been the most guilty. His wisdom to pro- 
portion the chastisement to the degree of crime ; 
a fire so penetrating that it in a manner so iden- 
tifies itself mth its victim that it boils in the 
veins and in the marrow, that it escapes and re- 
enters by all the pores, that it makes of the 
damned a burning coal in the midst of the fur- 
naces of hell ; a fire which unites in itself every 
torment and every i^ain, which infinitely sur- 
passes any thing man can sufier Irom sickness, 



CONSIDERATION. 147 

all that tyrants ever made "the confessors of 
Christ to endure : "Which of you can dwell with 
devouring fire, which of you can dwell with 
everlasting burnuigs." ( Is. xxxiii. 14.) 



FIFTH CONSIDERATION. 

Torment of eternity. 

How many years or centuries will the damned 
be chained in this prison ? Forever, How many 
years or centuries will he groan in tears of regret 
and despair? Forever. How many years or 
centuries will he be condemned to the society 
of demons ? Forever. How many years or cen- 
turies will he burn in flames. Forever. 

Will God, then, never have pity on his misery? 
Never. Will there not be any interruption of 
his torment? J^ever. Will he not at any time 
receive any mitigation of his pains? Never; 
always, never. Stretch your imagination, add 
years to years, ages to ages ; multiply them like 
the leaves of the forest, the sand of the sea-shore, 
the drops of water in the immensity of the seas ; 
you will not yet conceive the meaning of those 
two w^ords, ever^ never: " What number of years 
can equal eternity, since it is without end?" 
(St. Aug.) 

COLLOQUY. 

Oast yourself at the feet of Jesus Christ. 
Represent to yourself this innumerable multi- 
tude of souls that sin has precipitated into hell. 



148 THIRD DAY. 

Return thanks to our Saviour, who has preserved 
you from this dreadful eternity, and has hitherto 
followed you with His mercy and His love. 

Pater. Ave, 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

ON THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 

First prelude. Place yourself in spirit at the 
bar of the judgment-seat, before Jesus Christ. 

Second prelude. Beg grace to discover how 
you may now gain over your Judge, whilst he is 
flexible, and effectually to determine upon it. 

EIKST POINT. 

Who shall be mj Judge ? 

Jesus Christ; no longer in His debased and 
humble state, but arrayed in all the brightness 
of His glory and majesty. Jesus Christ an all- 
knowing God and Judge, from whose piercing 
sight nothing can be hidden. Jesus Christ, an 
inflexible Judge, who can neither be bribed nor 
moved by tears, nor prevailed on by prayers, to 
reverse His sentence. Jesus Christ, a Judge 
infinitely just, who will render to every one 



SECOND MEDITATION. 149 

according to his works. Jesus Christ, an all- 
powerful Judge, from whose hands no one shall 
be able to wrest the impenitent wretch who has 
incurred His displeasure. 

Fear that awful Judge. Make haste to ap- 
pease. Endeavor to become His child. His 
friend. His spouse. 

SECOND POINT. 

What shall be the rule of my judgment ? 

The books shall be opened, says St. John.- 
and what books ? On one side the hooh of the 
law of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, contain- 
ing Hjs doctrine, His maxims. His examples. 
On the other side, the book of my life. My 
actions shall be compared with those divine 
rules ; and approved of or condemned, according 
to their conformity or opposition to them. The 
maxims, customs, and laws of the world shall be 
then counted for nothing. 

Grieve at seeing so little conformity betw^een 
your life and the great rules on which you are 
to be judged. Resolve to learn these rules, and 
to regulate every part of your life by them. 



150 THIRD DAY. 

THIRD POINT. 

What will be the matter of mj judgment ? 

First. All the sins I have ever committed, 
from the first use of reason to my last breath; not 
only my open sins, but also those that have been 
covered with the shades of darkness ; not only 
my exterior sins, of words or actions, but even 
my most secret thoughts and desires. Second. 
All omissions of those duties, which the law of 
God or my state of life imposed upon me. Third. 
All the graces, exterior and interior, which I 
have received and neglected or abused. Fourth. 
The sins of others, to which I have been any 
ways accessory. Fifth. Even my best actions 
shall be nicely examined and sifted, with my 
intentions in doing them, and all the circum- 
stances which accompanied them. 

Tremble at the thought of so rigorous an ac- 
count. Eesolve to prepare for it by judging 
yourself before hand, accusing yourself, con- 
demning and punishing yourself, and amending 
your life. 

FOURTH POINT. 

What will be the sentence ? 

An eternal and irrevocable one, either to 



SECOND JMEDITATION. . 151 

bliss or damnation. To eternal salvation, if my 
life be found conformable to the law of God ; if 
the heavenly Father discovers in me a resem- 
blance to His Son. " Come thou, beloved of my 
Father, possess the kingdom prepared for thee !" 
To eternal damnation, if my life be found con- 
trary to the law of God and in opposition to the 
life of Jesus Christ. "Depart from me, thou 
cursed, into everlasting fire!" What a joy to 
hear the former ; what a fright, what a conster- 
nation to hear the latter ! V 

Let us suppose ourselves successively in 
each one of these two conditions, and imagine 
what would be our feelings. Let us resolve to 
omit nothing to procure to ourselves a favorable 
sentence. 



VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " O Lord ! pierce my flesh with Thy fear; 
for I have feared Thy judgments !" (Ps. cxviii.) 

2. "Enter not into judgment with Thy ser- 
vant, Lord, for no man living ^hall be justified 
in thy sight !" (Psalm cxlii. 2.) 

3. "I will search Jerusalem with lamps.'' 
(Soph. i. 12.) 

Read "Following of Christ," book ii. c. 5 j book iii. c. 14. 



152 THIRD DAY. 

THIRD MEDITATION. 

ON THE PRODIGAL SON. 

First prelude. After recalling to your mind 
the chief circumstances of the parable, represent 
to yourself Jesus Christ relating it to the Jews, 
and depicting Himself in it. 

Second prelude. Beg grace to be converted 
to God, and from this time forward to serve Him 
most perfectly. 

FIEST POmT. 

The disorders of the prodigal son. 

Consider, first^ the sources of his disorders, 
namely, youth and a want of experience — he is 
the younger of the two; presumption — he 
thinks he can govern himself and his goods ; the 
love of liberty — he can bear no longer with the 
control of a superior. Do you not find herein 
the sources of your own disorders ? 

Second. The progress of Ms disorders. First 
step ; he leaves his father's house, and goes to a 
far country. How far from God is the country 
of sin? Second step; he associates himself Avith 
evil companions. Oh evil company, the chief 
source of the corruption of youth ! Third step ; 
he abandons himselfs to debauchery and carnal 



THIRD IMEDITATION. 153 

pleasures. Oh sensual pleasures, the fatal grave 
of innocence, and the fruitful nursery of sins! 

Third. The effects of his disorders. First ; the 
wasting of his substance; precious innocence, 
gifts of nature and grace, what becomes of you 
when sin takes possession of a soul? Second; 
a distressing poverty, u raging famine, ensued. 
Nothing but spiritual indigence, distressing want, 
horrid famine, is to be found in the region of sin. 
Third; the basest and most cruel servitude is 
his last resource. The basest; it is a herd of un- 
clean swine he is obliged to feed. The most 
cruel ; he is left in such a want of all things, that 
he envies the food of those vile animals, and is 
not allowed to touch it ! Sinner ! acknowledge 
here the cruel tyrant, wlio is become thy master, 
Satan, thy implacable enem^M Acknowledge 
the baseness of thy bondage. He employs thee 
in feeding thy impure and filthy passions. Ac- 
knowledge his cruelty. 

SECOND POINT. 

The return of the prodigal son. 

First. Eeduced to an entire solitude, he enters 
into himself. Happy solitude! Blessed recol- 
lection! Ye are the sources of every good. 
Second. He remembers he has a father, and 



154 THIRD DAY. 

what abundance of good is found in his house. 
Third. He resolves to quit the place, where he 
lives so miserably, and to return to his father. 
"I will arise and go to my father." Fourth. 
He disposes himself to obtain his pardon by a 
sincere repentance of his fault. " I will say to 
him, father, I have sinned against Heaven and 
before thee ; I am not worthy to be called thy 
son; make me as one of thy hired servants." 
Fifth. He puts his resolution into immediate ex- 
ecution, and rising up he goes to his father. 
Sixth. He falls on his knees, and, bathed in tears, 
he expresses the most profound and the most 
unfeigned grief. 

Sinner, remember the abundance of good you 
formerly enjoyed in your Father's house, in the 
state of grace; and which is still enjoyed by His 
faithful servants. Will you remain in a state of 
miserable want and distressing hunger ? Arise, 
then, return without delay to thy Father ; but go 
to Him penetrated with that sincere and deep sor- 
row which is expressed in the words of the prod- 
igal son. True repentance alone can secure you 
a favorable reception. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 155 

THIRD POIKT. 

His reception by his father. 

View with a particular attention all the actions 
of that amiable and merciful father. First. He 
descries his son coming afar off, although hardly 
to be known again, through the rags which cover 
his emaciated body. Second. His bowels are 
moved with a tender compassion. Third. He 
runs to meet his son, and throwing his arms 
around his neck, he tenderly embraces him. 
Fourth. Content with the first expressions of 
his grief, the sincerity of which he sufficiently 
reads on his countenance, he does not give him 
time to finish the discourse he had prepared, but 
commands his servants to bring forth quickly 
the first robe and put it on him, to put a ring on 
his hand and shoes on his feet. Fifth. This is 
not yet enough to express the joy of that tender 
father. He orders the fatted calf to be killed, 
and a splendid banquet to be prepared to cele- 
brate the return, and, as he calls it, the resurrec- 
tion of his son-. " Because my son was dead, 
and is come to life again ; he was lost, and is 
found.'' 

Oh ! mercy of God, with what lively colors 
thou art here depicted ! Thus it is, O Lord, that 



156 THIRD DAY. 

Thou dealest with a repenting sinner ! Through 
the filth and deformity of his sins, Thou per- 
ceivest some remaining features of Thy dis- 
figured image, by which Thou still knowest him 
to be Thy child! Thus dost Thou, oh loving 
Father! make the first advances towards him, 
by the solicitations of Thy preventing grace t 
Thus, as soon as Thou seest him humbled, dost 
Thou begin to comfort him, to caress him, to 
embrace him ! Thus dost Thou readily forgive 
him, even without so much as one single re- 
proach for his ingratitude ; bring him back to Thy 
house, clothe him again with the robe of inno- 
cence, restore him to the liberty of Thj^ children, 
and give strength to his feet to walk in the path 
of Thy commandments ! Thus dost Thou invite 
Thy saints and angels in heaven, and Thy faith- 
ful servants on earth, to congratulate Thee, 
and to rejoice at the return of Thy child. Thus 
dost Thou, oh, incomprehensible Goodness ! pre- 
pare a heavenly banquet for that repenting son, 
in which Thou feedest his soul with the bread 
of angels; even with the flesh and blood of 
Thine only begotten Son, our Saviour Jesus 
Christ ! Oh, goodness ! oh, mercy ! what sinner 
can despair of pardon? But what sinner be- 
holding Thee can consent to continue to oflend 



THIRD MEDITATION. 157 

Thee, to abuse Thee, and to provoke the strokes 
of Thy justice ? 

Let us deplore our past blindness, let us, full 
of hope and sorrow, return to our offended Fa- 
ther, and being once readmitted into His house, 
let us never forsake Him any more. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " Convert us O God, our Saviour, and turn 
away Thy anger from us ! " 

2. "I have said it, now I begin: this change 
is of the hand of the Most High!" 

3. " Many sins are forgiven her, because she 
has loved much." "^ 

Read "Following of Christ," book i. c. 25. 



SECOND WEEK. 



VIA ILLUMINATIVA. 
THE WAY OF ENLIGHTENMENT. 

After having diligently studied our last end, 
and risen from our sins, we are now prepared to 
be taught by Christ, " who enlighteneth every 
man that cometh into the world." " Surge qui 
dormis^ et illuminabit te CTiristus — Arise thou 
who sleepest, and Christ shall enlighten thee!" 
Christ is " the way, and the truth, and the life." 
His example points out the way in which we are 
to walk ; His words unfold the truth which is to 
guide our footsteps ; and He Himself is the prin- 
ciple and source of the divine life, both in time 
and in eternity. 

During this Week, then, I am called on to 
study and to imitate the life of Christ ; to dwell 
on His holy example, to mark the words of 
heavenly wisdom which fall from His lips, to 

(158) 



SECOND WEEK. 159 

penetrate my whole being with the meek and 
hnmble spirit of His sacred heart ; in one word, 
to endeavor to set up His Kingdom in my own 
heart, and to become His faithful, devoted, and 
loving subject and disciple. This is the practical 
fruit of this Week's exercises ; and to this I 
should bend all the energies of my soul, with 
an earnest purpose and a single heart. I must 
regard Christ as my great Model, whom I am to 
copy in my own heart ; and as the artist who 
would succeed in copying a great original paint- 
ing must carefully study every light and shade, 
ever}^ outline and lineament, so must I study, 
with earnest and loving diligence, every trait in 
the life and character of this my divine Original 
and Mode], if I would hope to succeed in making 
my life a copy of His, and in becoming " con- 
formable to His image." 

Thus may I be enabled to succeed in taking 
the important step in the religious life, which 
God proposes to me at this stage of the exer- 
cises. After having, with God's grace, corrected 
whatever has been deformed in my past life, I 

will now seek to conform to Christ's example 
14 



160 FOURTH DAY. 

what has been, through His mercy, reformed^ 
thereby fulfilling the motto : 
Eeformata Conformare. 



rOUKTH DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATIOK 

ON THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. 

First prelude. Fix your imagination on 
Jesus Christ traveling through Judea, and en- 
deavoring to draw all men by His preaching and 
examples to the practice of perfection. 

Second prelude. Beg of Him grace cou- 
rageously to yield to His imitation, and perfectly 
to conform yom'self to His most holy hfe. 

FIRST POINT. 

Jesus Christ our Master — Ego sum Veritas. 

" God," says St. Paul, " spoke formerly to our 
fathers by the Prophets; but in these latter 
times, He has spoken to us by His own Son — 
Multifariam multisque modis olim loquens Deus 



FIRST MEDITATION. 161 

Patribus in Proplietis, iiovissime diebus istis 
locutus est in filio, etc." From the highest 
Heavens, He has declared Him the teacher of 
mankind — "This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased, hear je Him — Hie est filius 
mens dilectus, ipsum audite." What honor, 
what happiness, for us to have such a Teacher ! 
He knows all things, He is truth itself — Ego 
sum Veritas. He is the eternal, increated light 
and wisdom of God communicated to men under 
the veil of human flesh — Ego sum lux mundi. 
He not only teaches, but gives sense and undar- 
standing to those whom He instructs — Erunt 
omnes docibiles Dei. He is infallible, no danger 
of erring in following His doctrine. His doctrine 
is the invariable rule of our faith, of our morals, 
and of the whole series of our life. 

Have we followed that doctrine ? Have the 
precepts, the maxims and counsels of Jesus 
Christ been the rule of our lives ? Did we not 
in many cases give the preference to the maxims 
of the world, to the prudence of the flesh ? Give 
thanks to the heavenly Father for giving you 
His Son for your teacher and your guide. Give 
thanks to the Son for having come down from 
Heaven to teach you. Ask Him pardon for 
havmg made hitherto so little account of His 



162 FOURTH DAY. 

divine lessons. Resolve to be His faithful disci- 
ple for the future. 

SECOND POESTT. 

Jesus our Model — Ego sum via. 

''I have given you example," says He, "that 
as I have done, so you may do also." Our eter- 
nal salvation depends on that imitation. The 
uncertainty of our predestination is a most fright- 
ful thing to the faithful servants of God. "Man 
knows not whether he be worthy of love or 
hatred — Nescit homo utrum amore an odio 
dignus sit." He knows much less, whether he will 
persevere in the state of grace unto the end. 
Am I of the number of the elect, or of that of 
the reprobate ? Who can seriously think of this, 
without trembling ? Can nothing draw us from 
that uncertainty? Nothing, says the holy Coun- 
cil of Trent, but a particular revelation; and 
can we, without rashness, expect such a favor ? 
No, but we have a general revelation, in some 
sense, more capable of calming our fears, than 
a particLilar one, in which illusion might be 
feared. This revelation is contained in St. Paul's 
Epistle to the Romans, and is expressed in these 
words: "Whom He foreknew. He also predesti- 
nated to be made conformahle to the image of 



FIRST IVIEDITATION. 163 

His Son — Quos prgescivit et praedestinavit con- 
formes fieri imagini Filii Sui." In the two differ- 
ent ways this text is interpreted, it signifies, that 
to be an elect of God, it is absolutely required 
that we should bear the image and resemblance 
of His Son Jesus Christ. Hence we may form 
a very probable conjecture as whether we are 
of the number of the elect or of that of the 
reprobate. Does my life bespeak a conformity 
with that of Christ? Am I humble, obedient, 
meek, patient, chaste, zealous, charitable, etc., 
as was Christ? Then, I may reasonably expect 
to be one of His elect. But is there no resem- 
blance between Jesus Christ and myself, and do 
I make no endeavors to copy after that divine 
Model ? I must tremble ; it is very probable I 
ain of the number of the damned! 

THIPvD POIXT. 

Jesus our Head — Ego sum vita. 

All men were in a state of sphitual death in 
consequence of the sin of Adam. They were 
unable to restore themselves to life. God sent 
His own Son, whom He established the head of 
manldnd. That di^^-ne Word has taken our 
nature, and restored it to the supernatural life 
we had lost. He first re-established that precious 



164 FOURTH DAY. 

life in that individual humanity which He took, 
and which by its union with the divine nature 
received a perfection much superior to that of 
Adam in the state of his innocence. Then, by 
and through the merits and sufferings of that 
sacred humanity, he communicates His divine 
life to every one of us, who is willing to make 
use of the means He established, and to become 
His living member. We are made such by 
baptism, by penance, and by the other sacra- 
ments, which are the sources of the spuitual 
life. We are thereby made partakers of the 
life of Jesus Christ. We are united to Him as 
to our head. Precious life ! Without it we are 
dead in the sight of God, and we shall be infal- 
libly lost. With it, w^e become ourselves the 
beloved children of God, and the heirs of His 
liingdom ; joint heirs with Jesus Christ, destined 
to be forever united to Him in Heaven. 

Ah ! let us then, secure, as much as we can, 
that precious life to our souls ; and be willing 
to lose all else, even temporal life, rather than 
to lose it. Let us contract here a close union 
with Jesus Christ our Head, that we may never 
be separated from Him. 



CONSIDERATION. 165 



VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life — 
Ego sum via, Veritas, et vita." ( John xiv. 6.) 

2. " Your Master is one, Ohiist — Magister 
vester unus est Ohristus." ( Matt, xxiii. 10 ) 

3. "I have given you an example, that as I 
have done, you should do likewise — Exemplum 
dedi vobis, ut quemadmodum ego feci, ita et 
vos faciatis." 

4. "I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in 
me — Vivo autem, jam non ego, vivit vero in 
meOhristus." (Gal. ii. 20.) 

Read "Following of Christ/' booki. c. i.; book iii. c. i. ii. 



COXSIDERATIOK 

ON THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. Represent to yourself our 
Lord Jesus Christ shelving Himself to 3^ou as 
the apostles and inhabitants of Judea saw Him, 
and sajang to you, "Look, and make it accord- 
ing to the pattern." ( Exod. xxv. 40.) 

Second prelude. Ask the grace faithfully to 
imitate vour divine Model. 



16 G FOURTH DAY. 

Third prelude. Consider our Lord as the 
most perfect model man can propose to himself, 
in regard to God, to himself, and to his neighbor. 



FIRST POINT. 

Conduct of Jesus Christ in regard to His Father. 

To pray to God, to obey the will of God, to 
labor for the glory of God, are the principal 
obligations of man towards his Creator. 

Consider how Jesus Christ accomplished these 
obligations in His public life. 

1. Jesus Christ obeying. He is not subject 
to the law, since He is the first author of it, and 
comes to substitute another of a more perfect 
kind ; yet, as He sees in it an expression of the 
Divine will. He observes all its rules with relig- 
ious exactness. Recall what the Gospel tells us 
of His fidelity in coming to pray in the Temple, 
in sanctifying the Sabbath-day, in celebrating 
the Passover. He carries His respect for the 
law so far as to honor its ministers even in the 
Scribes and Pharisees: "The Scribes and the 
Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. 
All things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to 
you observe and do." ( Matt, xxiii. 2, 3.) 

2. Jesus Christ laboring for the glory of God. 
The three years of His public life were devoted 
to the preaching of the Gospel. Admire with 
what zeal He seizes all occasions to speak to 
men of salvation, and the obligation of serving- 
God. Represent to yourself this God-apostle in 



CONSIDERATION. 167 

the midst of His disciples, and surrounded by an 
innumerable crowd. 

With what force and with what sweetness com- 
bined does He reprove sinners! With what 
patience He repeats the same truths under differ- 
ent forms to their simple and coarse minds, which 
can scarcely understand them ! With what abne- 
gation of Himself and His own glory, at the price 
of what toils and perils, does He announce the 
word of His heavenly Father. 

3. Jesus Christ praying. Although He has 
only three years to give to His preaching, He 
retrenches whole days of even this short space 
to devote them exclusively to prayer : " He went 
up into a mountain alone to pray." ( Matt. xiv. 
23.) "He went into a desert place, and there 
He prayed." (Mark i. 35.) After the fatigues 
of the day, instead of giving Himself up to the 
necessary sleep, He retires to a distance from 
His apostles on the mountains, or to some desert 
place, to pray in the silence of night. Med- 
itate on all the circumstances of this divine 
prayer. It is a prayer made in sohtude; a 
prayer accompanied by outward signs of the 
most profound respect — He prays kneeling, or 
with His face bowed to the ground; it is a 
prayer consisting of the purest and most heroic 
sentiments of charity — He offers Himself as a 
victim ready to immolate Himself to repair His 
Father's glory and to save men. 

Look in upon yourself Do you pray ? Do 
you fulfill the precepts of your religion ? Do 
you labor for the glory of God? 
15 



168 FOURTH DAY. 

Learn from the example of Jesus Christ to 
fulfill your duties towards God in a Christian 
manner. 

SECOND POINT. 

Conduct of Jesus Christ in regard to Himself. 

Consider our Lord — 

1. In the use of His creatures. Admire His 
humility — how He hides His knowledge and 
His virtues ; how He forbids those He has cured 
to publish His miracles ; how He steals away 
from the enthusiasm of the people who wish to 
proclaim Him king. His poverty — His want is 
so great, that often He has not even a little 
bread to support His strength, and only a stone 
whereon to rest His head; and — oh, most ad- 
mirable! — He who lavishes miracles when 
required for the necessities of His neighbor, 
refuses them for Himself. His continual morti- 
fications — He renounces, He crucifies Himself 
in all things ; His life is a course of fatigues, of 
fasts, of watchings: "The whole life of Christ 
was but one cross and one continual martyrdom." 
( Imit. of Christ, i. 2-12.) 

2. With regard to the exterior. Contemplate 
the simplicity of His garments ; the gravity of 
His deportment ; the modesty which regulates 
His bearing ; the reserve of His words and looks ; 
the serenity and sweetness of His looks, which 
draw all men to Him; — in a word, recognise in 
Him what the Prophets had announced : " Be- 
hold My servant, My elect; My soul delighteth 



CONSIDERATION. 169 

in Him. I have given My spirit unto Him. He 
shall not cry, neither shall His voice be heard 
in the streets. He shall not be sad or trouble- 
some." ( Is. xlii. 1, 2, 4.) 

3. With regard to the interior. Penetrate 
into the sacred soul of Jesus Christ : study His 
admirable vu^tues ; His purity of intention, which 
refers all to His Father ; His charity, which 
leaves but two affections in His heartr— zeal for 
the glory of God, and zeal for the salvation of 
men ; His detachment in success, when the peo- 
ple, in raptures at hearing Him, cried out, "Never 
did man speak like this man." ( John vii. 46.) 
His resignation and profound peace when His 
enemies wished to stone Him ; His interior 
calm when He turned the sellers out of the 
Temple, or when He confounded the Pharisees. 

Practical reflections and affections. 



THIRD POINT. 
Conduct of Jesus Christ towards His neighbor.. 

Consider — 

1. The reserve of Jesus Christ in His inter- 
course with His neighbor. His conversations 
were few and short ; He feared, as it were, to be 
in the midst of men. And yet what had He to 
dread from communication mth them ? and, on 
the contrary, what graces might not men draw 
from Him who had the words of eternal life ? 
Yet Jesus Christ avoids mingling with them as 



170 FOURTH DAY. 

much as His ministry permits, and prefers 
silence, prayer, and solitude. 

2. The charity of Jesus Christ towards His 
neighbor. He bears with divine meekness the 
hatred and persecutions of the Pharisees, the 
rudeness of His disciples, the unworthy treat- 
ment of His neighbors, who wish to bind Him 
as a fool and a madman. He receives with kind- 
ness, even with a sort of predilection, the ignor- 
ant and the common people: "His communica- 
tion is with the simple ; " ( Prov. iii. 32 ; ) with 
the poor: "The poor have the Gospel preached 
to them;" (Matt. xi. 5;) with little children: 
" Sufier the little children, and forbid them not 
to come to Me ; for of such is the kingdom of 
Heaven ; " ( Matt. xix. 14 ; ) with sinners : wit- 
ness Zacheus, the Samaritan, the adulteress, 
Magdalen. He could not refuse miracles when 
they brought to Him one possessed, a paralytic, 
etc.; thus it is written of Him that He " went 
about doing good." ( Acts x. 38.) 

3. The end Jesus Christ proposed^ to Himself 
in His intercourse with His neighbor. His sole 
end was to instruct, to convert, to save men : 
thus He was never known to speak of vain or 
curious things : He only spoke of the Idngdom 
of God — " Speaking of the kingdom of God," 
( Acts i. 3,) of the value of the soul — " What 
will it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul ; " ( Matt. xvi. 28 ; ) of the 
obligation of loving God — " Thou slialt love the 
Lord thy God ; " ( Matt. xxii. 37 ; ) of the neces- 
sity of renouncing and conquering ourselves — 



CONSIDERATION. ^ 171 

" If any man will come after Me, let him deny 
himself" ( Matt. xvi. 24 ) ; of the happiness of 
suffering and poverty — "Blessed are the poor 
in spirit." ( Matt. v. 3.) 

Practical reflections and affections. 

Colloquy with our Lord, to beg of Him the 
grace of a faithful imitation of His virtues. 

Anima CJiristi. Pater. Ave, 

" Paint to yourself in your heart the conduct 
arid the whole life of Jesus Christ. What hu- 
mility He displayed among men ; what benignity 
towards His disciples; what commiseration to- 
wards the poor, to whom He made Himself like 
in all things, and who appeared to be the most 
cherished portion of His family. How He con- 
temned not nor spurned one ; how He flattered 
not the rich ; how free He was from the solici- 
tudes of this life, and the fears that men enter- 
tain for temporal necessities. What patience He 
showed under insult; what mildness in His an- 
swers. How He sought not to vindicate Him- 
self by bitter or sharp words, but to triumph 
over malice by gentle and humble replies ; how 
willing to sufier labor and poverty, and how 
compassionate towards the afflicted; how He 
condescended to the imperfections of the weak ; 
how He avoided all scandal ; how He disdained 
not sinners, but received the penitent with infi- 
nite clemency ; how calm in all His words, in all 
His gestures ; how solicitous for the salvation of 
souls, for love of whom He deigned to become 
incarnate and to die; how fervent in prayer; 



172 FOURTH DAY. 

how prompt in the service of others, as He says 
Himself: ^I am in the midst of you as he that 
serveth.' ( Luke xxii. 27.) 

" In all your actions, then, in all your words, 
whether you walk or eat, whether you speak or 
keep silence, whether alone or in company, lift 
your eyes to Him as your model. By this you 
will inflame your love ; you will increase your 
confidence in Him, you will enter into a holy 
familiarity with Him, and you will become per- 
fect in every kind of virtue. Let this be your 
wisdom, your study, your prayer, always to have 
something about Him in your mind, in order 
that you may be stirred up to a greater love 
and imitation of Him. For the more we con- 
form ourselves to Him in the imitation of His 
virtues, the nearer we shall approach and be 
like to Him in His celestial beauty and glory." 
( St. Bonav.) 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

I ON" THE INCARNATION. 

First prelude. Recall to your remembrance 
the chief circumstances of the mystery. 

Second prelude. Imagine yourself to be in 
the house of Nazareth, to see the angel and our 
Lady, to hear the conversation, etc. 

Third prelude. Adore the Word Incarnate, 



SECOND MEDITATION. ^ 173 

and beg of Him light to know and learn the 
great lesson of humility, which He gives you in 
this mystery. 

FIRST POINT. 
The depth of His humility. 

To form to ourselves some idea of it, let us 
ascend in spirit to the highest heavens, and there 
contemplate in a boundless eternity, before the 
beginning of all things, the Word of God, in the 
bosom of His Father, equal to Him and the same 
God as He is. " In the beginning was the Word ; 
and the Word was with God ; and the Word was 
God — In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum 
erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum." "By 
Him all things were made. He is the source of 
life and light. — Omnia per ipsum facta sunt — In 
ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum." Then, 
descending through a space of four thousand 
years, let us contemplate Him in the cottage of 
Nazareth, in the womb of the Virgin, reduced to 
the condition of an infant of a day, of a moment. 
" And the Word was made flesh and He dwelt 
amongst us. — Et Verbum caro factum est, et 
habitavit in nobis." Ah, what a strange humil- 
iation! Let us exclaim with Isaias: "Vere Tu 
es Deus absconditus — Thou art truly a hidden 
God!" That says even too little. Thou art a 



174 FOURTH DAY. 

God liumbled, debased, annihilated ! But if for 
the love of us, the Son of God embraces so 
humble and debased a state, could we suffer our- 
selves to be puffed up with pride ? 

Let us be ashamed at seeing ourselves so sub- 
ject to that vice. Let us renounce it. Let us 
with Jesus Christ espouse humility ; to live ob- 
scure, unknown, little, in the eyes of men, ought 
to be the ambition of the disciple of an Incarnate 
God. 

SECOND POINT. 
The justice of His humility. 

the Son of God was not obliged to become 
Man, nor to be the Eedeemer or Model of Men. 
This was an effect of His pure love for us, by 
reason, says St. Paul, " of the exceeding great 
charity with which He has loved us — Propter 
nimiam charitatem suam qua dilexit nos." But 
these steps being once presupposed, it was just 
and necessary that He should humble Himself 
as much as He has done. First. As man ; be- 
cause human nature, even united to the Divinity, 
is still nothing before God, if considered in itself. 
" My substance," says He by the prophet, " is as 
nothing before Tliee." Hence in the Man-God, 
the baseness of the humanity hides, and, in some 
measure, eclipses the grandeur of the Divinity. 



SECOND MEDITATION. 175 

Secondly. As Redeemer of men ; because in that 
quality He becomes their substitute. He takes 
their sins on Himself; and in that character, He 
deserves all the shame, humiliation and punish- 
ment due to sin. Thirdly. As the Model of 
men; because in this quahty He must give them 
an example, which may afford a remedy propor- 
tioned to their greatest evil, which is pride. 
Man had lost himself by endeavoring to become 
like God, his Creator. He must now save him- 
self by endeavoring to become like God, his 
Redeemer. 

Conclude from these reflections, how just, how 
necessary it is that you should be humble, you 
who are a mere man, a real sinner, both by the 
misfortune of your origin, and by the actual 
malice of your heart ; and who can not expect a 
share in His redemption, unless you first have a 
share in His humility. Let us acknowledge that 
nothing can be more just, than that we should 
humble ourselves ; and nothing more unjust than 
our pride. That, as men, we deserve no glory : 
as sinners, we deserve all sorts of humiliation 
and punishments : and as penitents and disciples 
of Christ, we are in the necessity of conforming 
ourselves to our humble Master. Let us, then, 
generously embrace both humility and humilia- 
tions. 



176 FOURTH DAY. 

THIRD POINT. 

The glory of His humility. 

The humility of Jesus Ohirst has been the 
source of His immense and everlasting glory. 
God, His Father, has exalted Him in proportion 
to His humiliations. " He humbled Himself, be- 
ing made in shape as a man. He debased Him- 
self; therefore God has exalted Him, and given 
Him a name above all names," etc — Humiliavit 
semetipsum in similitudinem hominum factus; 
exinanivit semetipsum, propter quod et Deus 
exaltavit ilium et dedit illi nomen quod est super 
omne nomen," etc. Let us then humble our- 
selves. 'Tis now an essential and invariable rule 
in the religion of Christ. Tis by humility alone 
that we can ascend to glory. " He who humbles 
himself shall be exalted — Qui se humiliat, exalt- 
abitur." Pride could not fail to precipitate us, as 
the fallen angels, into eternal humiliation. " He 
who exalts himself shall be humbled — Qui se 
exaltat, humiliabitur." How dear, then, ought 
humility to be to us ! 

Let us therefore declare war against our 
pride, and neglect nothing to acquire the precious 
treasure of humility. Let us often beg it of God, 
through the humiliations of His beloved Son. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 177 

When we are tempted by pride let ns look at 
our Incarnate God. Let us also implore the 
same grace by the intercession of the humblest 
of Virgins, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, 
and the most Mthful imitator of His humility. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "I am a worm, and not a man. — Ego sum 
vermis et non homo." ( Psalm xxi.) 

2. "Truly Thou art a hidden God.— Vere tu 
es Deus absconditus, Deus salvator." (Psalm 
xlv. 15.) 

3. " From the pride of life, by the mystery of 
Thy holy Incarnation, deliver us, O Lord! — A 
superbia vitae, per mysterium sanctae Incarna- 
tionis Tuae, libera nos Domine." (Litany of 
Saints.) 

Read " Following of Christ," book i.^ c. 2 j book ii. c. 2 ; b. iii. c. 8. 



THIRD MEDITATION*. 

ON THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

First prelude. Recall to your mind the 
chief circumstances of this mystery: the journey 



178 FOURTH DAY. 

to Bethleliem, the search after a lodging, the re- 
bukes, and the entrance into a stable. 

Second , prelude. Imagine yourself to be in 
the stable of Bethlehem, to see the Infant, His 
Mother, St. Joseph, the shepherds, etc. 

Third prelude. Adore Him, thank Him, 
embrace Him, and beg Him to imprint in your 
heart, the great lesson of His poverty. 

FIRST POINT. 
Painful and universal poverty. He suffers much from it. 

First. Poverty in His lodging. No house to 
shelter Him from the inclemency of the season, 
nothing but an open stable, that lets in the air 
and the cold. Second. Poverty in His accom- 
modations ; no cradle but a manger, no bed but 
a handful of straw, no fire, to warm his tender 
limbs, no clothing, but a few coarse and swad- 
ling clothes. Contemplate your Saviour and 
your God in that wretched lodging, on that poor 
bed, in that distressing condition, shivering with 
cold, deprived of the common solaces of life, and 
in want of those necessaries which are not de- 
nied to the poorest of children. 

Oh, how truly does this example condemn 
the abundance and luxury of worldlings ! How 
loudly it condemns our love of riches, of the 



THIRD MEDITATION. 179 

comforts and conveniencies of life ! We are not 
willing to suffer the want of any thing, and, be- 
hold the Son of God is reduced, for the love of 
us, to the want of the most necessary comforts 
of life ! Let us be ashamed and resolve to cher- 
ish and embrace His poverty. 

SECOND POINT. 

Humbling and ignominious poverty. 

His poverty causes Him to be rebuked ana 
rejected from every house in Bethlehem; to be 
neglected, forgotten, despised, as the outcast 
of men. A few poor shepherds alone, admon- 
ished by the angels, take notice of Him. He 
remains unnoticed and unknown to His own 
people. " He came unto His own ; and His own 
received Him not — In propria venit, et sui eum 
non receperunt." Behold the great Messiah of 
Israel, the Eedeemer of the world, driven to the 
corner of an abandoned stable ; drinking already, 
in full draught, the bitter cup of ignominy pre- 
pared for Him. Behold the supreme Lord of 
the universe become a little weeping babe, de- 
pendent on others for His subsistence; mani- 
festing His wants by His cries; but in vain; 
since those who wish to relieve them have it 
not in their power, and those who have it in 



180 FOURTH DAY. 

their power are not willing to do it. We are 
not perhaps unwilling to be poor, provided it 
be an honorable poverty, a poverty that attracts, 
or, at least, does not exclude the attention, the 
respect, and the esteem of men. But an igno- 
minious poverty, a poverty that excites the con- 
tempt, the reproaches, and the rebukes of men ; 
a poverty that keeps us unknown, unregarded, 
slighted by the world, is for us an object of fear, 
and perhaps of aversion and horror. How little 
we resemble our Saviour ! 

THIRD POINT. 
Voluntary poverty. 

Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of the 
universe. All the riches and glory of this world 
are at His disposal. He might have been born 
in the bosom of opulence, in the midst of grand- 
eur. He might have called to His cradle the 
kings and potentates of the earth. He might 
have surrounded Himself with all the comforts 
and conveniences of life. He might have called 
His angels to wait on Him. Therefore, that He 
should find no lodging in Bethlehem, that a 
stable should be the place of His birth, that the 
most universal, distressing, and humUiathig pov- 
erty should be His lot, was no effect of hazard ; 



THIRD MEDITATION. ^ 181 

but the order of Providence, for our instruction 
and reformation. It was to intimate to us the 
danger of riches; it was to inspire us with a 
contempt of the advantages of this world. It 
was to remind us that our true riches, our true 
glory, our solid happiness, are not in this life, 
but in heaven. The stable, the manger, the 
swaddling clothes, the tears of Jesus Christ cry 
aloud unto us : " Blessed are the poor in spirit." 
They teach us that heaven is the lot of the poor 
in spirit; that even if we are poor in reality, 
there is no heaven for us, unless we love our 
poverty, and despise riches ; and also that if we 
are rich in reality, there is no heaven for us, un- 
less we are poor in spirit, and disengaged from 
the riches we possess. 

Let us examine how we have followed these 
lessons. Let us love, embrace, and practice a 
true poverty of spirit. 

Read "Following of Christ," book i. c. 6, 7; bookiii. c. 18. 



182 FIFTH DAY. 



FIFTH DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

ON THE CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS CHRIST. 

First prelude. Recall to your mind the 
chief circumstances of this mystery. 

Second prelude. Imagine that you see be- 
fore you Jesus Christ, suffering that painful 
operation, and His blood flowing from the wound. 

Third prelude. Adore Him and beg Him 
to imprint in your heart the lessons of mortifi- 
cation, which He gives you. 

FIEST POINT. 

Jesus Christ receives the legal Circumcision, and thereby teaches 
us the mortification of the body. 

Jesus Christ had come into the world only 
to immolate Himself for our redemption. Obliged 
to restrain the ardent desire that l^urned in His 
heart of dying on the cross, He joyfully em- 
braced every occasion of suffering for us. He 
now offers the first fiaiits of His blood, as a 
pledge of His resolution to shed it one day to the 



FIRST MEDITATIO]^. 183 

last drop. From this example of Jesus Christ, the 
Saints have learned to mortify their flesh. " Those 
who are Christ's have crucified their flesh — Qui 
Cliristi sunt carnem suam crucifixerunt." The 
mortification of the flesh is necessary to expiate 
our sins, and to preserve us from a relapse. A 
flesh which is unmortified will be rebellious. 
••' He who feeds his slave delicately, shall find him 
obstinate — Qui delicate nutrit servum suum, 
sentiet contumacem." Besides the corporal 
penances, which we might embrace under the 
direction of obedience, we have fi^equent oppor- 
tunities of mortifying the flesh. A modest and 
composed posture of the body, a constant re- 
straint put on our eyes, ears, and tongue ; Httle 
privations at meals, a great fidelity in taking 
nothing at other times without necessity, a great 
punctuality in rising at the appointed hour, a 
constant application to labor, to study, and other 
occupations prescribed by obedience ; voluntary 
privations of many little satisfactions, etc., are 
very profitable mortifications. The general 
maxim followed by the Saints, is that we never 
can exceed in our desire of corporal mortifica- 
tions, and, that the measure thereof, is not to be 
fixed by sloth and fear of suffering, but only by 
the fear of displeasing God, and of rendering 
ourselves incapable of a more solid good. Is 
' 16 



184: FIFTH DAY. 

this our practice ? Let us blush at our remiss- 
ness and want of courage, and resolve to chas- 
tise our flesh and reduce it to subjection. 

SECOND POINT. 

For the legal, Jesus Christ substitutes the evangelical Circumcision. 

The Circumcision of the law was only a figure 
of the spiritual Circumcision of the heart, so 
often recommended to the Jews by Moses and 
the Prophets. "Circumcise the desires of your 
heart — Circunicidite praeputium cordis vestri." 
This is the proper Circumcision of the law of 
grace, which St. Paul calls "a Circumcision not 
made by the hands, the Circumcision of the 
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter — Circum- 
cisio non manu facta, Ckcumcisio in spiritu non 
littera ; " which consists in retrenching all ungod- 
liness and worldly desires, and in leading a life 
of sobriety, justice, and piety. "The grace of 
our Saviour-God has appeared, teaching us, that 
renouncing impiety and worldly desires, we live 
soberly, justly and piously in this world — Appa- 
ruit gratia Salvatoris nostri Dei, erudiens nos, 
ut abnegantes impietatem et saecularia desideria, 
sobrie, et juste et pie vivamus in hoc sseculo." 

Let us then give great attention, during this 
Retreat, and every day afterwards, in our medi- 



FIRST MEDITATION". 185 

tations and examens, to discover all our passions 
and vicious inclinations, not only those which 
are criminal and dangerous, but even such as 
are only defective and imperfect; and let us 
u-se a constant application in rooting out the 
smallest fibres of every propensity which may 
hinder or retard our progress in perfection. 
One single passion left unmortified may cause 
our perdition. Is it not to that cause we must 
ascribe our past disorders and irregularities ? 



THIRD POINT. 

Jesus Christ in His Circumcision, receives the name of Jesus, as the 
reward both of the Circumcision He suffers, and of that which 
He establishes. 

Jesus is the name of the Saviour and the 
great Penitent of mankind. But a name rever- 
enced and adored by all creatures, by the devils 
themselves. "In the name of Jesus, let every 
knee bow — In nomine Jesu omne genu flecta- 
tur." Christians, ecclesiastics, and religious 
persons partake of the glory of that name. In 
the latter, it implies a particular union and 
resemblance with Jesus Christ. They should, like 
Him, be public penitents for the salvation of 
men. "Inter vestibulum et altare plorabunt 
sacerdotes, ministri Domini, et dicent: parce 



186 FIFTH DAY. 

Domine: parce populo tuo!" Tliat precious 
resemblance to Jesus, penitent, would make 
tliem also partakers of the privileges and glory 
of His name..^ A Religious, and still more an 
Apostolic man, truly mortified and dead to him- 
self, possesses a glorious empire over his own 
heart, over the heart of other men, over the 
heart of God Himself, of whom it is said : " He 
will do the will of those that fear Him — Vol- 
untatem timentium se faciet." Hell trembles 
before such a man. He rescues multitudes of 
souls from the slavery of Satan. He is powerful 
in words and works. Whereas, the unmortified 
man is weak and unsuccessful. "This kind of 
devil," says our Saviour, " is not cast out, but in 
prayer and fasting — Hoc autem genus Demoni- 
orum non ejicitur,nisi in oratione et jejunio." 
Let us then, by forming in ourselves a holy 
habit of mortification, prepare ourselves to be 
the cooperators of Jesus Christ in the glorious 
work of the salvation of souls. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "Those who belong to Christ, have cruci- 
fied their flesh, with its vices and concupiscen- 
ces." ( Gal. V. 24.) 

2. "K you live according to the flesh, you 



CONSIDERATION. 187 

shall die ; but if, by the spirit you mortify the 
deeds of the flesh, you shall live." ( Rom. viii. 13.) 
3. "I chastise my body and bring it into 
subjection, lest after I have preached to others, 
I might become myself a reprobate." 

Read " Following of Christ," book i. c. 2 ; book iii. c. 18, 32. 



CONSIDERATION. 

ON VENIAL SIN. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude, Eepresent to yourself the 
fires of purgatory, and a soul in these fires expi- 
ating the sins it committed on earth. 

Second prelude. Ask of God the knowledge 
and the hatred of venial sin. 

FIRST CONSIDERATION. "^^ 

The malice of venial sin. 

Venial sin is essentially an offense against 
God. It is consequently a contempt of the 
majesty of God, an ingratitude towards His 
goodness, a resistance to His will, an injury to 
all His perfections; — a slight injury, if com- 
pared to that which mortal sin offers to God, 
but very serious if considered in itself; for it is 



188 FIFTH DAY. 

an offense against Infinite Majesty by a vile 
creature, and for a vile motive. 

Venial sin is, then, really the evil of God. 
Meditate well on these words : An evil against 
God ; that is to say, an evil so great that it sur- 
passes all the temporal and even eternal evils ol 
creatures. 

The destruction, or above all the damnation, 
of the whole human race would be a great evil ; 
and yet it would be a sin to wish, if we had the 
power, to save the human race from destruction 
or hell at the price of one venial sin. 

It is an evil so great that all the sacrifices and 
virtues of creatures render less glory to God 
than one venial sin takes fi'om Him. 

It is an evil so great that neither the mind of 
man can comprehend it, nor his will hate it as 
it deserves to be hated, nor any expiation of his 
suffice to repair it. For it requfres nothing less 
than the mind, the will, and the atonement of 
a God. 

SECOIST) CONSIDERATION. 

The effects of venial sin. 

Venial sin, it is true, does not destroy in us 
habitual grace; but, nevertheless, how deplor- 
able are its effects in the soul ! 

1. 'It imprints a stain which tarnishes its 
beauty. It is to the soul what an ulcer is to the 
body. 

2. It weakens the lights of the spirit and the 
fervor of the will ; and from that arises languor 



CONSIDERATION. 18^ 

in prayer, in the use of the Sacraments, and in 
the practice of Christian virtues. 

3. It deprives the soul of the superabundance 
of graces — choice graces, which God only gives 
to purity of heart. 

4. It deprives the soul of a greater degree of 
grace and glory which it would have acquired 
by its fidelity, and which is lost by its fault. 
A God less glorified eternally, less loved, and 
less possessed — such are the consequences of 
venial sin to the soul. 

5. It leads to mortal sin as sickness leads to 
death ; for the repetition of venial sins insensi- 
bly weakens the fear of God, hardens the con- 
science, forms evil attachments and habits, gives 
fresh strength to the temptations of the enemy 
of our salvation, nourishes and develops the 
passions. Hence the Holy Spirit says, "He that 
contemneth small things, shall fall little by little," 
(Ecclus. xix. 1;) and that of our Saviour, "He 
that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust 
also in that which is greater." ( Luke xvi. 10.) 



THIRD CONSIDERATION. 

The punishment of renial sin. 

Even in this life God has often inflicted most 
rigorous vengeance for venial sin. Moses and 
Aaron were excluded from the promised land in 
punishment of a slight distrust; the Bethsamites 
were struck dead for an indiscreet look at the 
ark; seventy thousand Israelites were carried 



190 FIFTH DAY. 

ofl* by a destructive scourge in punishment of 
the vain complaisance of David in the number- 
ing of his subjects. 

But it is above all in the next life that venial 
sin is punished with the most alarming rigor. 
Enter in spirit this blazing prison, where the 
justice of God punishes His elect, and meditate 
attentively on the following circumstances : 

1. What is the victim suffering in purgatory ? 
It is a predestined soul; a soul confirmed in 
grace, and that can not lose it ; a soul so dear 
to God that He is impatient to give it the most 
magnificent testimonj^ of His love, that is to 
say, the possession of Himself 

2. What does it siffer? Pain which man can 
not conceive ; that is, fires which differ in nothing 
from those which devour the damned — it is the 
opinion of St. Augustine, confirmed by St. Thomas, 
"The same fire forms the torment of the damned 
and the purification of the just;" and the pri- 
vation of God, which delivers up the soul to all 
that is most agonizing in regrets and desires. 

3. Why does it suffer? For some of those 
faults which almost every moment are committed 
from the weakness of our will. 

End by looking into your conscience. Exam- 
ine the faculties of your soul and the senses of 
your body. Call to mind how far divine faith 
regulates the use of them with regard to God, 
your neighbor, and yourself. Examine all the 
venial faults you commit each day in these 
different points, through ignorance, levity, or 
weakness — perhaps even with malice and re- 



SECOND MEDITATION. 191 

flection. Humble yourself before God, and vsay 
with the prophet: "For evils without number 
have surrounded me ; my iniquities have over- 
taken m^, and I am not able to see. They are 
multiplied above the hairs of my head, and my 
heart hath forsaken me. Be i^leased, O Lord, to 
deliver me.'' (Psalm xxxix. 18, 14.) 

Colloquy with the blessed Virgin and our 
Saviour. 

Pater. Ave. - 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

ON THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE. 

First jpr elude. Recall to your remembrance 
how, the days of Mary's purification being ac- 
complished, she and St. Joseph carried the cliild 
Jesus to the temple, presented Him to God, and 
redeemed Him according to tlie law, and offered 
a sacrifice of a couple of pigeons or turtle-doves. 

Second prelude. Join in spirit the blessed 
company that met on that occasion, to pay their 
homage to the infant Saviour, the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, St. Joseph, St. Simeon, and St. Ann the 
Prophetess. 

Third prelude. Beg your Saviour to imprint 

in your heart the lesson of fidelity to His Father's 

will, which He gives you in this mystery. 
17 



192 FIFTH DAY. 

FIRST POINT. 

First Example. — Fidelity in the smallest duties. 

To be circumcised, to be presented in the 
temple, may appear considerable duties. But 
to be circumcised precisely on the eighth day ; 
to be presented the fortieth day, to be redeemed 
by a small sum of money, to offer in sacrifice 
two turtle-doves does not appear to be of very 
great consequence. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ 
accomplishes every point with an equal exact- 
ness. The love He had for His Father, did not 
allow Him to leave one single tittle of the law 
without being fulfilled. "Iota unum aut unus 
apex non proeteribit a lege donee omnia fiant.'' 
Such ought to be the fidelity of every true serv- 
ant of God. He strictly complies with every, 
even the smallest duty: First. Because no- 
thing is small in His eyes, when commanded by 
Almighty God: Second. Because, should the 
law of God contain small points, He well knows, 
that they become great when practiced with 
love : Third. Because small duties become great 
by their fi-equency and continuity. "It is not 
little," says A'Kempis, "to be faithful in little 
things — Non minimum est in minimis esse 
fidelem:" Fourth. Because smaU duties are the 



SECOND MEDITATION. 193 

safeguard of great ones. " He who is faithful in 
small things, is also faithful in greater ones. 
Qui in minimo fidelis est, et in majori fidelis 
est:" Fifth. Because it is always great to imitate 
Jesus Christ. 

Are we faithful in small duties ? Do we not ■ 
often neglect them under the pretense, that such 
an omission is only a venial sin ? If so, we have 
but little love for God, and we are in imminent 
danger of perishing. 

SECOND POINT. 

Second Example. — Fidelity in all the points of God's law, how 
painful and difficult soever they may be. 

The mystery of Christ's presentation in the 
temple is not confined to the bare exterior cere- 
mony. He does not ofler Himself to His Father 
as other children are offered. He knows that to 
offer Himself to His Father in His quality of our 
Redeemer, our security and substitute, is to put 
Himself into the hands of His justice, to devote 
Himself to a most cruel death. He hears holy 
Simeon foretelling this to His Blessed Mother. 
He is The victim of mankind^ ana now finds 
Himself in the place where victims are solemnly 
offered to God. He therefore here makes a pre- 
lude to His future sacrifice. He views minutely 



194 • FIFTH DAY. 

in advance all the circumstances of that cruel 
scene. He cheerfully accepts of all, and takes a 
solemn and irrevocable engagement to pay the 
immense debt due to the offended majesty of 
His Father. Thus the love of Jesus for us, 
makes Him undergo the most difficult and most 
painful labors and sufferings. 

As to us, we stop at every thing. We trans- 
gress small duties, by a pretended, strength of 
mind, and great ones, by a true weakness of 
courage. We would fain do great things, pro- 
\'ided they be easy, that is to say, we will do 
nothing, or almost nothing. The Saints did not 
do so : nay, the children of this world do not so 
act. What difficulties, what obstacles do they 
not surmount, to satisfy their passions, to secure 
their interests, to gain a little smoke of worldly 
honor? Have j^ou not often shrunk from the 
difficulties in the way of practising virtue? 
Have you not omitted essential duties, under the 
pretense of impossibility ? Whence does your 
sloth come? Is it from a want of confidence in 
God's grace? Does He then command that 
which is impossible ? 



SECOND MEDITATION. 195 



THIRD POINT. 

Third Example. — Fidelity in all those points which, although not 
commanded, yet are conducive to the glory of God. 

Jesus Christ was under no obligation of be- 
ing circumcised, nor of being presented in the 
temple, nor even of dying on the cross. The 
gloiy and the wish of His heavenlj^ Father alone 
were to Him equivalent to an order. We shall 
always be very far from perfection, nay, we shall 
never reach it, as long as we shall so carefully 
distinguish the counsel from the precept. God 
will not see in us His faithful and loving chil- 
dren ; He will see in us mere slaves, who will 
do His will only when He commands and 
threatens, but who are not willing to put them- 
selves to any great trouble to satisfy His desires 
and good pleasure. A loving child needs no 
commands. It is sufficient to him, that it will 
give his father satisfaction; this alone will make 
him perform even things that are most painful. 
Ah ! Avhat would become of us, had Jesus Christ 
done for us no more than He was strictly obliged 
to do? 

Let us, then, never say: this is not obliga- 
tory; there is no sin in doing this, nor in 
omitting that; therefore I shall indulge my own 



196 FIFTH DAY. 

inclination. But let us say : this will please my 
God ; it will turn to His honor and glory. There- 
fore I shall faithfully comply with it. Lament 
your past negligence, your infidelities, your re- 
sistance to the divine inspirations, and resolve 
always to do that which will appear to you most 
pleasing in the sight of God. 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "Behold I come, my God! I have de- 
sired it, and Thy law is in the midst of my 
heart." ( Psalm xxxix. 9.) 

2. " My food is to do the will of Him that 
sent me." ( John iv. 34.) 

3. "I do nothing of myself." (John viii. 28.) 

Read "Following of Christ," book i. c. 9, 15 ; book iii. c. 13. 



THIKD MEDITATION. 

ON THE PRIVATE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

F'i7'st prelude. Represent to yourself Jesus 
Christ leading a retired and private life with 
Mary and Joseph, in their little cottage in Naz- 
areth. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 197 

Second prelude. Beseech Him to teach you 
how to love solitude, and to sanctify yourself 
in it. 

FIRST POINT. 

In solitude Jesus obeyed — " And He was subject to them." 
( Luke ii.) 

Jesus obeyed; and wKom? Joseph and 
Mary, that is, a poor mechanic and an humble 
virgin. But had they, in commanding Him, any 
peculiar personal influence or advantage over 
Him? Had they more knowledge, more pru- 
dence, more virtue? No; but they were for 
Him in the place of His heavenly Father, and in 
them. He respected His authority ; in Mary, as 
His mother, in Joseph, as the husband and supe- 
rior of Mary, and in that quality His own supe- 
rior, whom His Father had intrusted with the 
care of His conduct. Jesus obeyed; and in 
what? Often in things of very little conse- 
quence. What other things could they com- 
mand Him to do, at least in His early years ? 
Jesus obeyed ; and how ? With all the degrees 
of perfection that are recommended by the 
Saints ; with submission of heart and mind ; with 
exact, prompt, generous, cheerful obedience. 
No objection, no excuse, no^ murmur. In this 
He merited as much as when He was born in 



198 ' FIFTH DAY. 

Bethlehem, or when He was expiring on the 
cross ; because God has not so much regard to 
the thing which is done, as to the spirit with 
which it is done. He used every where and in 
all things the same attention, the same zeal for 
whatever His Father prescribed to Him, by the 
mouth of Mary and Joseph. 

Let us examine our own conduct towards our 
superiors and compare our obedience with His, 
in every respect. 

SECOISTD POINT. 

In solitude Jesus labored. 

He tells us, by His prophet, that He was 
subject to labors from His youth. And wdiat 
labors ? In His childhood He waited on Him- 
self; He served Joseph and Mary; He always 
acted in submission to their orders. He assisted 
His holy Mother in the management of her 
household. Oh ! what a w onderfal spectacle, to 
see the great God of the universe, under the 
form and in the humble garb of a poor cliild, 
employed in the mean occupations of a poor cot- 
tage ; such as sweeping the floor, carrying wood, 
kindling a fire, fetching w^ater, etc. These were 
His first labors. Then, as He grew up in years 
and strength. He lent His help to St. Joseph in 



THIRD MEDITATION. 199 

the exercise of his trade, until He became Him- 
self a professed workman, as the Gospel testifies. 
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of the car- 
penter ? " 

Let us, after this example, accustom ourselves 
to be always employed in useful occupations. 
Let us disdain no employment, however mean 
it may appear to our pride, when it is prescribed 
by obedience. Let us carefully strive to shun 
idleness, as the mother of all evils. An idle soli- 
tude is a very dangerous one. Let us, then, have 
always in hand some useful employment. " Let 
the devil," says St. Jerome, " always find you 
busy." Let us resolve to imitate that part of 
our Saviour's life, by a constant and assiduous 
application to study, to manual labor, or to other 
employments of our calling. i 



THIRD POINT. 

In solitude, Jesus advanced in virtue and sanctity. 

As to His interior, He could not acquire any 
new kind of virtue or perfection. The words of 
the Gospel signify, that as He advanced in age, 
He daily gave outwardly more marks of the 
virtue and sanctity that were in Him. In this our 
Saviour teaches the important obligations incum- 



200 FIFTH DAY. 

bent on every Christian, but still more on relig- 
ious persons or ecclesiastics ; to aspire to sanctity 
tliemselves, and to strive every day to advance 
in perfection. It is the peculiar duty of young 
persons, who are brought up in the sohtude of 
their houses under the eyes of their parents, or 
in houses of education under the care of teachers ; 
but still more of novices in religious solitude, 
under the guidance of superiors; or of young 
candidates for holy orders in the solitude of an 
ecclesiastical seminary, to advance every day, 
to make a continual progress towards that sanc- 
tity and perfection, which their state requires. 
Those who govern them, should have the conso- 
lation, as had Joseph and Mary, to discover 
daily in them some marks of proficiency. 

Let us reproach ourselves with our back- 
wardness. After so long a time spent in solitude, 
after so many instructions received, so many 
exercises of piety, so many graces heaped upon 
us, how little, how imperceptible is our progress! 
Do we not even, perhaps, go backwards, instead 
of advancing? Have Ave not fallen from our 
former fervor? Let us renew our primitive 
ardor, and resolve to neglect nothing, in order 
to repair the time lost, by a rapid advancement 
in recollection, in obedience, in regularity, in 
humility, in mortification, and in other virtues. 



FIRST MJEDITATION. 201 



VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "Who will give me wings as of a dove, 
and I shall fly and be at rest. Behold I have 
fled far aivay, and dwell in solitude." (Psalm 
liv. 6, 7.) 

2. " Blessed is the man whose help is from 
Thee ; in his heart he has disposed to ascend by 
steps, in the vale of tears, in that which he has 
set." ( Psalm Ixxxiii.) 

Read "Following of Christ book i. c. 26. 



SIXTH DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

ON THE TWO STANDARDS. 

First prelude. Represent to yourself, on a 
mountain near Babylon, Satan sitting on a throne 
of fire, surrounded with flames and smoke ; and 
around him a numerous army of followers. 

Tlien represent to yourself in a plain near 
Jerusalem, Jesus Christ sitting oh a chair, and 



202 SIXTH DAY. 

smTounded by a small number of faithful fol- 
lowers. 

Second prelitde. Beg of God not to permit 
you to be so unhappy, as to follow the Yormer, 
but to attract you by His grace, to a close union 
with the latter. 

FIRST pomT. 

The difference of character bet\Yeen these two leaders. 

Satan is a most odious and abominable 
spirit, whom his pride has changed from a beau- 
tiful angel, into a hideous deyil. He hides liim- 
self from the sight of his followers ; or if he 
ever shows himself, it is under a borrowed form, 
never in his own shape. He even transforms 
himself sometimes into an angel of light, 
( 2 Cor. xi. 14.) What an odious monster ! 

Jesus Christ, on the contrary, is the most 
amiable, and the most beautiful of the children 
of men. ( Psalm xliv.) "He has shown Himself 
to man, and has conversed with him — Inter 
homines visus est,et cum hominibus conversatus 
est" He is the only Son of God, made man for 
the salvation of mankind. How amiable a 
Master! 

Conceive a great fear and detestation of 
Satan, and a tender love and confidence in Jesus 
Clmst. 



FIRST JVIEDITATION. 203 

SECOJSTD POmT. 

The difference of views and intentions. 

With whatever promises Satan may flatter 
men to draw them to his service, his real inten- 
tion is, to make them first partakers of his pride, 
and by this means, partakers of his reprobation. 

On the contrary, Jesus Christ has no other 
intention than our eternal salvation. He wishes 
to make us partakers of His virtues, of His 
sanctity, of His divine life ; and by this means, 
partakers of His eternal felicity. 

Could we hesitate one moment, in renounc- 
ing Satan with the utmost abhorrence, and in 
adhering irrevocably to Jesus Christ ? " Abre- 
nuntio tibi, Satana ! — I renounce thee. Oh, 
Satan!" I renounce all thy works, I renounce 
all thy pomps ! " Adhoereo tibi, Christe ! — I 
adhere to Thee, Oh Christ!" I become Thy 
follower! Oh! receive me in the number 
of Thy disciples. "I will follow Thee whither- 
soever ^ Tliou goest — sequar te quocumque 
ieris." 

THIRD POINT. 

The diflference of the means they employ. 

Consider attentively this third difference, 
that you may not be deluded by the wiles of 



204 SIXTH DAY. 

Satan. Satan proposes apparent goods, worldly 
riches, honors, and pleasures, in order to avert 
the minds of men from heavenly goods, and to 
inspire them with pride. "I will give thee all 
these things if thou wilt fall down and adore 
me — Haec omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adora- 
veris me." ( Matt, iv.) 

Jesus Christ proposes the contempt of all 
that is earthly and perishable ; the contempt of 
temporal honor, riches, and delights ; in order 
that we may turn all our desires to the heavenly 
felicity, and, by the practice of His poverty, 
humility, and self-denial, become partakers of 
His glory and happiness. If that way appears 
hard. He animates us to embrace it by His 
example; He walks before us; by His grace 
He strengthens and assists us. 

Which of the two sides, have we hitherto 
followed ?. Which are we determined to follow 
in future ? 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. "If any man love not Jesus Christ, let him 
be anathema." ( 1 Cor. xvi. 22.) 

2. " Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ?" (Kom. viii. 35.) 

Read "FollowiDg of Christ," book ii. c. 2 ; book iii. c. 6. 



CONSIDERATION. 205 

CONSIDERATION 

ON THE DISCOURSE OF OUR LORD AFTER THE LAST SUPPER. 
( St. John, xiii.-xvii.) 

' Preparatory Prayer, 

First Prelude. Represent to yourself the 
disciple whom Jesus loved reposing on His 
bosom, and drawing from His heart the under- 
standing of His sublime teachings. 

Second Prelude. Ask the grace to partake 
with him this place of honor during your med- 
itation. 

FIRST POINT. 

Jesus answers the questions of His Apostles. 

1. Peter asks Him, ''Lord, whither goest 
Thou ? " Jesus answers, " Whither I go thou 
canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow 
hereafter." Peter replies, "Why can not I fol- 
low Thee now? I will lay down my life for 
Thee." Jesus answers, "Wilt thou lay down 
thy life for Me ? Amen, amen, I say to thee, the 
cock shall not crow till thou deny Me thrice." 

2. Thomas says to Him, "We know not 
whither Thou goest; and how can we know 
the way?" Jesus answers him, "I am the way, 
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the 
Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you 
would without doubt have known My Father 



206 SIXTH DAY. 

also, and from henceforth you shall know Him, 
and you have seen Him." 

3. Philip saitli to Him, "Lord, show us the 
Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus saith to 
him, " So long a time have I been with you, and 
have you not known Me ? Philip, he that seeth 
Me seeth the Father also. How say est thou, 
show us the Father ? Do you not believe that I 
am in the Father, and the Father is in Me ? The 
words that I speak to you, I speak not of My- 
self. But My Father who abideth in Me, He 
doth the works. Believe you not that I am in 
the Father, and the Father in Me ? Otherwise 
believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen, 
I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works 
that I do, he shall also do, and greater than 
these shall he do : because I go to the Father. 
And whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My 
name, that will I do : that the Father may be 
glorified in the Son. If you shall ask Me any 
thing in My name, that I will do. If you love 
Me, keep My commandments. And I will ask 
the Father, and He shall give you another Para- 
clete, that He may abide with you for ever. 
The Spirit of truth, whom the world can not 
receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth 
Him: but you shall know Him, because He 
shall abide with you, and shall be in you. I 
will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 
Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no 
more. But you see Me, because I live, and you 
shall live. In that day you shall know that 
I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in 



CONSIDERATION. 207 

you. He that hath My commandments and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. And he 
that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father : 
and I will love him, and will manifest Myself 
to him." 

4. Judas saith to Him, not Iscariot, "Lord, 
how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us 
and not to the world ? " Jesus answered him, 
" If any man love Me, he will keep My word, 
and My Father will love him, and Ave will come 
to him, and will make Our abode with liim. He 
that loveth Me not keepeth not My words and 
the word which j^ou have heard is not Mine, 
but the Father's who sent Me. These things 
have I spoken to you, abiding with you ; but 
the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the 
Father mil send in My name, He will teach 
you all things, and bring all things to your 
mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you." 

5. The Apostles asked each other what the 
words signified that Jesus had just said : "A lit- 
tle while, and you shall not see Me ; and again 
a little while, and you shall see Me." Jesus, 
knowing they wished to ask Him,' said to them, 
" Of this do you inquire among yourselves, be- 
cause I said : A little while, and you shall not 
see Me ; and again a little while, and you shall 
see Me. Amen, amen, I say to you, that you 
shall lament and weep, but the world shall 
rejoice, and you shall be made sorrowful, but 
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, 
when she is in labor, hath sorrow because her 
hour is come ; but when she hath brought forth 

18 



208 SIXTH DAY. 

the child, she remembereth no more the anguish 
for joy that a man is born into the world. So 
also you noAV indeed have sorrow; but I will 
see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and 
your joy no man shall take from you. And in 
that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, 
amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father any 
thing in My name. He will give it you. Hitherto 
you have not asked any thing in My name. 
Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may 
be full.'' 

SECOND POINT. 

Jesus announces His passion; recommends 
charity, peace, intimate union with Him and 
with our brethren, constancy in persecutions: 
He promises the Holy Ghost. 

1. He announces His passion. " Now is the 
Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in 
Him. If God be glorified in Him, God also will 
glorify Him in Himself, and immediately Avill 
He glorify Him. Little children, yet a little 
while I am with you." (John xiii. 31-33.) 

2. He recommends charity. "A new com- 
mandment I give unto you, that you love one 
another ; as I have loved you, that you also love 
one another. By this shall all men know that 
you are My disciples, if you have love one for 
another." (John xiii. 34, 35.) 

3. Peace. " Let not your heart be troubled. 
You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My 
Father's house are many mansions. If not, I 
would have told you that I go to prepare a place 



COKSIDERATIOiq^. 209 

for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place 
for you, I will come again, and will take you to 
Myself, that where I am you also may be." 
(John xiv. 1-3.) 

4. Union with Him and with our hretliren, 
" I am the true Vine, and My Father is the hus- 
bandman. Every branch in Me that beareth 
not fruit He will take away; and every one that 
beareth fruit, He mil purge it, that it may bring 
forth more fruit. Now you are clean by reason 
of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide 
in Me, and I in you. As the branch can not 
bear Iruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, so 
neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am 
the Vine ; you the branches. He that abideth 
in Me and I in him, the same beareth much 
fruit : for without Me you can do nothing. If any 
one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a 
branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather 
him up and cast him into the fire, and he burn- 
eth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in 
you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it 
shall be done unto you. In this is My Father 
glorified, that ye bring forth very much fruit, 
and become My disciples. As the Father hath 
loved Me, I also loved you. Abide in My love. 
If you keep My commandments, you shall abide 
in My love, as I also have kept my Father's 
commandments, and do abide in His love. These 
things I have spoken to you, that My joy may 
be in you, and your joy may be filled. This is 
My commandment, that you love one another, as I 
have loved you. Greater love than this no man 



210 SIXTH DAY. 

hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 
You are My friends, if you do the things that I 
command you. I will not now call you serv- 
ants : for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
doth. But I have called you friends: because 
all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father 
I have made known to you. You have not 
chosen Me, but I have chosen you; and have 
appointed you that you should go and should 
bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain ; 
that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in 
My name. He may give it you. These things I 
command you, that you love one another." 
( John xvi. 1-17.) 

5. Constancy in persecutions^ " If the world 
hate you, know ye that it hath hated Me before 
you. If you had been of the world, the world 
would love its own ; but because you are not of 
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, 
therefore the world hateth you. Remember My 
word that I said to you: The servant is not 
greater than his master. If they have persecuted 
Me, they will also persecute you : if they have 
kept My word, they will keep yours also. But 
all these things they will do to you for My name's 
sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. 
If I had not come and spoken to them, they 
would not have sin ; but now they have no ex- 
cuse for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth 
my Father also. If I had not done among them 
the works that no other man hath done, they 
would not have sin ; but now they have both 
seen and hated both Me and My Father. But 



CONSIDERATION. 211 

that the word may be fulfilled which is written 
in their law: They hated Me without cause. 
But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will 
send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, 
who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give 
testimony of Me : and you shall give testimony, 
because you are with Me from the beginning.^ 
These things have I spoken to you, that you 
may not be scandalized. They will put you out 
of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that 
whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a 
service to God. And these things will they do 
to you, because they have not known the Father, 
nor Me. But these things I have told you, that 
when the hour of them shall come, you may re- 
member that I told you." (John xv. 18 to end ; 
xvi. 1-4.) 

6. He promises the Holy Ghost " But I tell 
you the truth : it is expedient to you that I go ; 
for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to 
you ; but if I go, I will send Him to j^ou. And 
when He is come. He will convince the world 
of sin and of justice and of judgment. Of sin: 
because they believed not in Me. And of jus- 
tice : because I go to the Father, and you shall 
see Me no longer. And of judgment: because 
the prince of this world is already judged. I 
have yet many things to say to you; but you 
can not bear them now. But when He, the 
Spirit of truth, is come. He will teach you all 
truth. For He shall not speak of Himself; but 
what things soever He shall hear, He shall 
speak, and the things that are to come He shall 



212 SIXTH DAY. 

show you. He shall glorify Me; because He 
shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you. 
All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine. 
Therefore I said, that He shall receive ol Mine 
and show it to you." ( John xvi. 7-15. ) 



THIRD POINT. 

The prayer of Jesus. 

1. Jesus prays for Himself, Lifting up His 
eyes to heaven, Jesus said: "Father, the hour is 
come ; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify 
Thee. As Thou hast given Him power over all 
flesh, that He may give eternal life to all whom 
Thou hast given Him. Now this is eternal life : 
That they may know Thee, th^ only true God, 
and Jesus CMst whom Thou hast sent. I have 
glorified Thee on earth. I have finished the 
work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now 
glorify Thou Me, Father, mth Thyself, with 
the glory which I had, before the world was, 
with Thee." ( John xvii. 1-5.) 

2. Jesus prays for His disciples, "I have 
manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou 
hast given Me out of the world. Thine they 
were, and to Me Thou gavest them: and they 
have kept Thy word. Now they have known 
that all things which Thou hast given Me are 
from Thee: because the words which Thou 
gavest Me I have given to them, and they have 
received them, and have known in very deed 
that I came out from Thee, and they have 



CONSIDERATION. 213 

believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them : 
I pray not for the world, but for them whom 
Thou hast given Me; because they are Tliine. 
And all My things are Thine, and Thine are 
Mine : and I am glorified in them. And now I 
am not in the world, and these are in the world, 
and I come to Tliee. Holy Father, keep them 
in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me ; that 
they may be one, as We are also. AVhile I was 
with them, I kept them in Thy name. Those 
whom Thou gavest Me have I kept: and none 
of them are lost, but the son of perdition, that 
the Scripture may be fulfilled. And now I come 
to Thee : and these things I speak in the world, 
that they may have My joy filled in themselves. 
I have given them Thy word, and the world hath 
hated them, because they are not of the world, 
as I also am not of the world. I pray not that 
Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but 
that Thou shouldst keep them from evil. They 
are not of the world, as I also am not of the 
world. Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is 
truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, I 
also have sent them into the world. And for 
them do I sanctify Myself: that they also may 
be sanctified in truth. And not for them only 
do I pray, but for them also who through their 
word shall believe in Me. That they all may be 
one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee : that 
they also may be one in Us : that the world may 
believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory 
which Thou hast given Me I have given to them : 
that they may be one, as We also are one. I in 



214 SIXTH DAY. 

them, and Tliou in Me ; that they may be made 
perfect in one ; and the world may know that 
Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou 
hast also loved Me. Father, I will that where I 
am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may 
be with Me : that they may see My glory which 
Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved 
Me before the foundation of the world. Just 
Father, the world hath not known Thee ; but I 
have known Thee ; and these have known that 
Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known 
Thy name to them, and will make it known : 
that the love, wherewith Thou hast loved Me, 
may be in them, and I in them.'' ( John xvii. 6 
to end.) 
Affections at the foot of the crucifix. 

Anima ChristL 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

OF THE THRKE CLASSES. 

First prelude. Cast yourself at the feet of 
Jesus Christ, and renew the protestations of your 
allegiance. 

Second prelude. Beseech Him not to per- 
mit you to deceive yourself in the desire you 
feel of following Him. 



SECOND MEDITATION. 215 



FIRST CLASS. 

It is composed of those, who seem to desire 
their salvation, their perfection, and the glory 
of God ; but who, at the same time, are unwill- 
ing to use the means, which are necessary to 
attain that end. They may be compared to a 
husbandman, who seems desirous to make a 
good crop, but is unwilling either to plant, or to 
sow, or to labor; or to a sick man, who says that 
he is willing to be cured, but is not willing to take 
any remedy. Can these be said to be willing? 
No : it may be said, that they would wish to 
attain the object of their desires, but .they are 
not truly desirous for its attainment. It is a 
folly, a mere chimera, to will the end without 
willing the means. 

Now is this not the case with many Chris- 
tians ? You will find no man, but who will tell 
you that he most certainly wishes to save his 
soul; but how many, who will not use one single 
means for this purpose. It is commonly and 
very truly said, that Hell is paved with good 
intentions ; that is, is full of men who wished to 
save their souls, and who are nevertheless mis- 
erably damned. Have we not been too long in 
that deplorable error? Are we not still thus 

deluded? If not with regard to salvation, at 
19 



216 SIXTH DAY. 

least with regard to the perfection of our state, 
and the glory of God ; ever desiring to advance, 
and never mlling to take an effectual means of 
making a real progress in. virtue. 

SECOND CLASS. 

The second class is composed of those who 
say that they are desirous of their salvation or 
perfection, and use some means to that effect, 
but use neither all, nor the best means to attain 
the end proposed. They are compared to a 
husbandman, who is desirous of a plentiful crop, 
and is willing to sow or to plant, but is not willing 
to take all the pains, nor to use all the means to 
promote the growth of his seed and plants. Or 
to a sick man, who is willing to take some reme- 
dies, but not all, nor even the most efficacious. 
The number of Christians laboring under this 
illusion, is exceedingly great. Many embrace 
the service of God and the way of perfection, 
and make use of some means for that purpose ; 
but they devote themselves to God only by half. 
Their good resolutions are always made with 
many reserves and exceptions; they embrace 
-^-^o Dractices of devotion, but only such as are 
nd are of easy observance, 
ul to nature and repugnant to 



seco:n^d meditatiox. 217 

». 
their inclination, however necessary and effica- 
cious, is rejected. What wonder if they go 
back instead of advancing? Are such trul}^ 
willing to save their souls ? To become perfect ? 
No : because they are not willing to use all the 
means necessary for that end. 

Has this not been our case? Do we not yet 
stand in this class ? Let us examine our resolu- 
tions. Are they not too full of reserves and 
exceptions ? 

THIRD CLASS. 

Tlie third class is composed of those who 
will their salvation, their perfection, the glory of 
Jesus Christ, Avith an absolute and determined 
will. This appears in their neglecting no means, 
let them ever be so difficult and painful to nature, 
to obtain their end. They are compared to a 
husbandman, wdio wishes for a plentiful harvest, 
and who, to effect it, spares no pains, no labors, no 
care, to succeed in his undertaking; or to a sick 
man, who earnestly wishes for a cure, and is 
willing to take the most bitter and disagreeable 
remedies, to suffer the most painful operations. 
A soul truly willing to sanctify herself, to be- 
come perfect, to procure the glory of Jesus 
Christ, spares no pains for that purpose, is ready 
to sacrifice the dearest things, pleasures, amuse- 



218 SIXTH DAY. 

ments, friends, parents, connections, goods, time, 
health, etc., to attain her end. Tea, even if the 
right hand must be cut off, if the right eye must 
be plucked out. 

Are we in this generous disposition ? Let 
us endeavor to acquire it, if on self-examination 
we find that we have not hitherto belonged to 
this class. 

VEKSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " Then, said I, behold I come ! I delight to 
do Thy will, and Thy law is in the midst of my 
heart." ( Psalm xxxix. 9.) 

2. "What is there in Heaven for me, and 
besides Thee, what can I desire upon earth." 
(Psalm Ixxii. 25.) 

3. " Who shall separate me from the charity 
of Jesus Christ?" ( Rom. viii. 35.) 

Read "Following of Christ/' book iii. c. 5 and 6. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 

ON THE THREE DEGREES OF HUMILITY. 

"Be zealous for better gifts, and I will yet show you a more excel- 
lent way." 

First prelude. Imagine yourself to stand 
among the disciples of Jesus Christ, and to hear 



THIRD MEDITATION. 219 

that good Master inviting you to the practice of 
humility and perfection. 

Second prelude. Beg of Him to imprint in 
your heart the lesson of His humility, and to 
teach you the way to true perfection. 

FIEST DEGREE. 

Consider that the first degree of humility 
and perfection consists in submitting yourself so 
perfectly to the holy will of God, as to be ready 
to die, rather than offend Him. So that if it 
were question of transgressing a single one of 
God's commandments ; as, to detract from your 
neighbor's reputation, to do him a notable injury, 
to profane the sacraments, etc.; and thereby to 
fall into God's disgrace, you had rather, after the 
example of the holy Martyrs and all the Saints, 
lose all the goods of the world, be deprived of 
every pleasure, suffer every torment, and the 
most cruel death, rather than fail in your fidelity 
to so holy and so powerful a Master. 

Weigh the reasons which oblige you to be 
in that disposition; it is essential to salvation. 
Examine whether you are in that degree. Pro- 
duce an act of this holy submission ; and form 
on this a strong and unshaken determination. 



220 SIXTH DAY. 



SECOND DEGREE. 

The second degree of humility and iperfec- 
tion, is to submit yourself so profoundly to your 
Creator, as to be habitually in the firm resolution 
to die, rather than deliberately to displease Him, 
even in the smallest point ; were it only in a 
slight lie, an indiscreet expression, a little raillery, 
an unprofitable word ; nay, rather, than commit 
a voluntary imperfection. In effect is it not 
reasonable that a beloved son should never cause 
the least displeasure to his father, never pass in 
the least, the bounds of the respect which he 
owes him, and never omit wilfully what is most 
pleasing to him? The smallest degree of the 
glory of God is infinitely better than your life 
and all the pleasures of the world, because it is 
your end ; and the end is always preferable to 
the means. Now, the glory of God consists in 
this, that His creature should submit to His will, 
"and endeavor to please Him. How much there- 
fore ought His cliildren to abhor venial sin, 
which offends Him, and is contrary to His honor ? 
St. Catharine of Genoa said, that, had she been 
j)lunged into a sea of flames, and, in endeavoring 
to emerge therefrom, perceived on the shore 
the shadow of sin, she never could have dared 
to come out. What aversion ought not you also 



THIRD MEDITATION. 221 

to have for voluntaiy imperfections, by which the 
soul prefers her own pleasure to the pleasure 
and the greater glory of God ! 

Are you not yet very far from this degree ? 
With what facility you commit venial sin ! How 
great is the number of venial sins that defile 
your soul! How easily and how often do you 
resist good inspirations ! Confound j^ourself in 
seeing that, after so many graces, you are yet so 
far from perfection. Resolve to neglect nothing 
to reach at least this degree; that is, not to 
commit the smallest offense, for any considera- 
tion whatsoever, and always to choose in prefer- 
ence that wliich is most pleasing, and most glo- 
rious to God. 

THIRD DEGREE. 

The third degree of humility and perfection, 
consists in so great a disengagement and con- 
tempt for whatever the world esteems and man 
is naturally inclined to love, that you give always 
the preference to humiliation, poverty, and suf- 
fering, over worldly honors, riches, and joys ; ac- 
tuated thereto by this motive alone, that you wish 
to resemble Jesus Christ, even in the case that 
both should be equally conducive to the glory 
of God. So that, if God would choose to place 
you in a state of honor, and in a condition 



^23 SIXTH DAY. 

pleasing to nature, you should still cherish in 
your heart a secret inclination for the cross of 
Jesus Christ; and whenever both are left to 
your option, you should always turn yourself to 
the cross, it being your center, out of which 
you can never enjoy a secure and permanent 
tranquillity. 

Is this your disposition ? How far you are 
from it ! When mil you be wholly devoted to 
Christ, and bear in yourself a perfect resem- 
blance to Him ? 

VERSES OF ASPIRATIONS. 

1. " It is good for me to adhere to my God, 
and to put all my hope in the Lord God." ( Psalm 
Ixxii. 28.) 

2. " Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father 
is perfect." (Matt. v. 48.) 

Read "Following of Christ," booki. c. 11 and 18. 



THIRD WEEK. 



VIA OONFIRMATIVA. 
THE WAY OF STRENGTH. 

After having studied the life of Christ, and 
sought to conform our lives thereto, we must now 
during this tliird Week seek to strengthen our 
good resolutions, that we may not falter in the 
hour of danger, or fail through weakness while 
walking in the way of virtue. For this purpose we 
meditate on the passion and sufferings of Christ, 
who became weak that He might make us 
strong. In Him strength grew out of weakness, 
the life of the Resurrection out of the death of 
the Sepulchre. 

So should it be with us. At this more 
advanced stage of these holy exercises, after 
having already learned the first rudiments of the 
science of salvation, we are to enter upon our 
regular training as soldiers of the Cross. Man's 

(323^ 



224 THIRD WEEK. 

life is a warfare uiDon earth ; and we are to nerve 
ourselves for the contest. Christ will have 
none that are over-nice and delicate, none that are 
faint-hearted, none that are cowards, in the ranks 
of His soldiers. The conflict wall be short, but 
it may be sharp ; it will be painful to nature, 
but it will be alleviated and comforted by 
- grace. Christ is our Captain; He marches at 
the head of the column ; He endures all the 
hardships of the campaign ; we are called upon 
merely to follow Him : " If any one will come 
after Me, let Him deny himself, take up his 
eross, and follow Me ! " 

O my Lord and Saviour ! " I w^ill follow 
Thee whithersoever Thou goest!" I will cheer- 
fully endure for Tliy sake w^hat Thou didst so 
lo\dngly endure for mine. I will say with Thy 
devoted soldier, St. Bernard, " It is not seemly 
that the member should be over-delicate under 
a head crowned with thorns ; " and with Tliyself, 
"The disciple is not above the Master." But, O 
dear Lord, my divine Captain and Leader, Thou 
knowest my great weakness ; strengthen me by 
Thy holy grace ; indue me with a portion of Tliy 



FIRST MEDITATIO]^. 225 

divine fortitude, that through Thee I may be 
enabled to accomplish what through Thee I 
have resolved to do. Extend forth Thy hand to 
me amidst the billows of sorrow, that I may not 
be submerged! Grant, my good Jesus, that 
after having resolved, during the last Week of 
these holy exercises, to conform my life entirely 
with Thine, I may, during the present one, be 
confirmed and strengthened in this resolution 
of following Thee even unto death, the death of 
the cross ; thus fulfilling the motto of this por- 
tion, of my Retreat: 

OONEORMATA CONFIRMARE. 



SEVENTH DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

ON" OUR SAVIOUR'S PASSIOIT. 



First prelude. Represent to yourself our 
Saviour in the garden of Olives, prostrate on the 
ground, in an agony of grief, covered with a 
sweat of blood. 



226 SEVENTH DAY. 

Second prelude. Beseech Him to permit 
you to enter into His sacred interior, and to learn 
from Him, how to sacrifice for His sake your 
interior comforts. 

FIRST POINT. 

The greatness of our Saviour's sorrow. 

Conclude it from the expression of the 
Gospel : He is sad, He trembles. He is filled with 
anguish. He began to be sorrowful and afflicted, 
says St, Matthew, and it is the first time of Hjs 
life that He appears so. He utters sad complaints. 
He, w^ho never w^as heard before to complain : and 
in what terms ? " My soul," says He, " is sorrowful 
even unto death ! " That is, my sorrow is such, that 
it would put an end to my life, did I not support 
it by the power of my Divinity. He can neither 
stop long in one place, nor quiet His affhcted 
mind. He prays, and His prayer. His reflections, 
can afford Him no relief, no rest. He goes to His 
disciples, and leaves them the next instant. He 
prays again, He desires His Father to remove from 
Him a bitter chalice, which He has a reluctance 
to drink. Yet He submissively resigns Himself 
to the divine will — " Thy will be done, not 
mine ! " Even this can not appease the agita- 
tion and affliction of His mind. A second visit 
to His disciples proves as ineffectual as the first. 



FIRST IVIEDITATIOX. 227 

He continues to pray ; but the more He advances, 
the more fearful become His combats. His 
sorrow grows into an agony. The violence of 
the struggle produces a profuse sweat, which 
covers all His limbs ; when lo ! the blood itself 
propelled from the heart, where fear had gathered 
it, makes itself an issue through every pore, in 
so great an abundance as to cover His body, 
bathe His garments, and trickle down in streams 
upon the ground — " And His sweat was made 
as drops of blood, running upon the ground." 
What affliction ! What sadness ! 

Condole with your suffering Jesus ; beg Him 
to disclose to you the cause of that frightful 
anguish. 

SECOND point: 

The causes of His sorrow. 

Tlie first cause is no other than His love. 
We certainly know that none of these sentiments ^ 
of fear, sadness, anguish, etc., could arise in His 
blessed soul, without His own consent. It must 
then have been His choice to suffer them. This 
is properly the passion of His love. No torturers 
have yet appeared, no scourges, no thorns, no 
nails, no spears, present themselves ; and Jesus 
is already covered with His blood! Admire 
that love, and beg it to disclose to you, the 



228 SEVENTH DAY. 

instruments it employed. These instruments 
were no other than our sins, and the clear foresight 
of all that He was going to endure for them; 
and of the inutility of all He was to suffer for a 
great number of men. In this awful moment, 
the sins of mankind, from the first to the last, 
were all mustered before His mind, in all then- 
hideous shapes and deformities. This caused 
His fright. But He could not see so many 
offenses committed against the majesty of His 
Father, without the most profound grief. His 
sorrow was proportionate to His love for Him, 
which was without bounds : nor could He see 
mankind, Avhom He so tenderly loved, fallen into 
such depths of misery, without the most lively 
sorrow and tender compassion. This caused His 
sadness. 

But this is not all. He must take all those 
heinous naonsters of sin on Himself; He must 
atone for them. Oh ! what a frightful moment 
for the pure and spotless soul of Jesus, when 
He saw Himself encompassed with that innu- 
merable army of hideous crimes, and thus be- 
come the object of the hatred and vengeance 
of His heavenly Father ! This caused that weari- 
ness and anguish, expressed by the Evangelists. 

Add to this the distinct sight of all the tor- 
tures, ignominies, insults, and ill-treatment, which 



FIRST MEDITATIOJT. '22[) 

were prepared for Him on the morrow; the 
clear knowledge He had of the malice and per- 
verse designs of His enemies ; and of the inu- 
tility of His sufferings for the greater part of 
mankind, who would not profit by them, but 
would abuse His grace, and repay His sufferings 
by the most shameful ingratitude. This caused 
the agony of grief, which would surely have 
put an end to His life, had He not supported it 
by His divine power ; and the violence He offered 
to His natural repugnance, to submit to His 
Father's will, and to accept of all those horrors, 
caused that extraordinary sweat of blood, which 
bathed His whole body. 

Conceive sentiments of the most lively com- 
passion for the sorrow and anguish your Saviour 
endures for your sake, and thank Him for His 
excessive love towards you. Yiew also the 
number, the enormity and hideousness of your 
own sins. Grieve for them. Beg of your Saviour 
some share in His sorrow. Offer it up to the 
heavenly Father, to supply the weakness of 
yours. Mingle the tears of your repentance 
with the tears of blood He sheds for you. Sub- 
mit to all the sadness, interior desolation, per- 
plexity, scruples, and anguish of mind, into 
which He may permit you to fall. 



230 SEVENTH DAY. 

THIRD POINT. 

Where Jesus Christ seeks for consolation. 

He seeks relief to His interior pains, in God, 
in praj^er, in communication with His Father. 
"Is any of you sad," says St. James, "let him 
pray." But what kind of prayer ? 

First. A prayer of humiliation. He pros- 
trates himself with his face to the ground. The 
soul must acknowledge that she well deserves 
all the interior pains and aflaictions she endures. 
Second. A prayer of resignation. "Oh my 
Father ! Thy will be done, not mine ! " God is 
our Father even when He afflicts us. Let us 
submit our will to His, and be content with its 
appointments so long as He pleases. Third. A 
prayer of perseverance. " Being made into an 
agony. He prayed the longer." Let us persevere 
in prayer, notwithstanding our interior dryness, 
and wait patiently for the moments of grace, 
seeking relief only in our acquiescence in the 
holy will of God. We are not forbidden to have 
recourse to pious friends, especially to our spir- 
itual directors ; but let us not rely too much on 
human assistance, which our Lord could not find 
among His disciples. 



CONSIDERATION. 231 

Examine your conduct, and form your good 
resolutions according to this divine Model of 
suffering. 

Read "Following of Christ," bookii. c. 9. 



CONSIDERATION. 

ON MARY OUR MOTHER. 

Preparatory Prayer, 

First jpreliide. See Mary at the foot of the 
cross ; hear Jesus saying to you, " Behold thy 
Mother!" 

Second prelude. Ask of Jesus a filial love 
for Mary your Mother. 

Consider — 

1. That Mary was given you for your Mother. 

2. That she has really shown herself a Mother 
to you. 

3. That you ought to be a confiding and de- 
voted son to her. 

FIRST POINT. 

Mary has been given you for a Mother. Con- 
sider then, in your heart all the circumstances 
of this gift. 

1. She was given to you by Jesus Christ, God 

and Master of all creatures, from whom emanates 

all power, paternal and maternal; by Jesus 

Christ the God-Saviour, who had already sacri- 

20 



232 SEVENTH DAY. 

ficed for you the body and lavished the blood 
He derived from Mary. Having nothing more 
to give you but her, He bestows her on you as 
a complement of all His gifts. 

2. She is given to you in the clearest terms, 
the strongest, the most precise, to enable yovi to 
realize what they signify: " Behold your Mother." 
Jesus said, in showing the bread, "This is My 
body ; " and the bread became His body. Point- 
ing to His Mother, He says, "Behold thy 
Mother ; " Mary immediately became our Mother. 

3. She w^as given to you under the most seri- 
ous and solemn circumstances. Jesus, djdng, 
makes His last dispositions and signifies His 
last will. Alone of all the disciples the beloved 
John is present to receive in the name of all 
Christians the last gift which their divine Master 
makes to them. Thus all the fathers and doctors 
of the Church have understood it. 

4. She is given you " for your Mother." Feel 
these words at the bottom of your heart. Recall 
to yourself that man does not live only by 
bread ; that his soul as well as his body has a 
life to receive and support. It is in this super- 
natural order that Mary is your mother ; if you 
live to grace, it is through her. The principle 
of tliis spiritual life is in Jesus ; but Mary's is 
the bosom that bore you, the milk that nourished 
you, the maternal heart that always loves its 
children even when ungrateful. 

5. Why was a mother according to grace given 
to you ? and why was tliis mother the mother of 
God ? Interrogate Jesus in profound recollection 



CONSIDERATION. ^ 233 

of heart. He wished to become your brother 
both by father and mother; He wished that 
all should be in common between you ; He 
wished that if the infinite height of His divinity 
terrified you, a creature, His mother and yours, 
should serve as your advocate, your refuge, and 
your mediatrix with Him; He wished to en- 
courage the most timid, open the hearts most 
oppressed by fear, ofier to all the sweetest mo- 
tive for trust, always well founded, never too 
great ; for a mother always loves her cliild, and 
Jesus, Son of Mary, will always love His mother. 



SECOND POINT. 

Mary has always shown herself your mother. 

1. She received you to her heart when Jesus 
gave you to her for her child ; so the Scripture 
calls Jesus Christ her first-born. (Matt. i. 25.) 
You ought to be born in her and by her, 
after Him. 

2. She has nourished you, not only by the 
graces her prayers have obtained for you, but 
also in a real manner, by the Body and Blood of 
her Son given to you in the Eucharist. 

3. She has anticipated you, cared for you, 
loaded you with favors. All the graces 3^ou 
have received from the Lord have been solicited 
and obtained by her. So, your call to the faith, 
the grace of a Christian education, of a first 
communion ; the grace of conversion and re treaty 



234: SEVENTH DAY. 

the grace that now leads you to give yourself 
entirely to God — all come to you from Jesus 
through Mary. ( St. Bernard.) 

4. At need, Mary obtains for the defense and 
salvation of her children extraordinary graces 
and wonderful miracles. What prodigies have 
caused, sustained, spread every where, confi- 
dence among Christian people ? What striking 
proofs of her protection the Church recalls to 
our memory by solemn feasts and pious prac- 
tices, enriched by precious indulgences. What 
titles Christians give her to testify their gratitude : 
" Help of Christians, health of the sick, comfort 
of the afflicted, refuge of sinners, gate of Heaven, 
our life, our sweetness, our hope!" What a 
concourse of people to the places where she 
is most honored, where she obtains the most 
succors to those who invoke her! What prayers 
and acts of thanksgiving at the foot of >er altars 1 
and in our days what conquests made by Our 
Lady of Victories ! What favors bestowed on 
all hearts devoted to the heart of Mary. 

5. Her protection, " strong as an army," ( Cant, 
vi,) preserves her faithful children from all 
dangers ; she is for them an assured pledge of 
predestination. So the doctors of the Church 
believe, who assure us " that a servant of Mary 
can not perish." 



CONSIDERATION. 235 



THIRD POINT. 

"We then owe to our Mother love, confidence, imitation, zeal to spread 
devotion to her. 

1. Love for her who is the beloved of our 
Lord ; gratitude towards her who has loaded us 
with benefits ; filial affections for our mother. 

2. CoTifidence. Her power and her title of 
mother were given to her that our trust in her 
might be unlimited, that we might know that 
she would always be able and willing to help us. 

3. Imitation, She expects from us this proof 
of true love. Does not the child naturally re- 
semble the mother? Let this resemblance in 
us be the fruit of our efforts, of a careful study 
and practice of her virtues. Sons of a virgin, let 
us be pure; sons of the Mother of sorrows, let 
us be faithful to Jesus, even unto the cross. 

4. Zeal to spread her devotion. A sincere 
love will produce this zeal. We must praise 
and defend all the practices authorized by the 
Church ; her images must be venerated and dis- 
tributed ; we must love to bear her livery, to 
visit the places where she is honored; take 
pleasure in singing her praises, in preceding her 
feasts by penance, and in sanctifying them by 
the reception of the holy Eucharist. Let us 
honor the sacred heart of Mary, and honor it 
by a particular devotion. 



236 SEVENTH DAY. 



COLLOQIUES. 



Let us recite the Magnificat in union with 
Maiy, or else address these words of St. Bernard 
to ourselves : " thou who feelest thyself tossed 
by the tempests in the midsts of the shoals of 
this world, turn not aw^ay thine eyes from the 
star of the sea if thou wouldst avoid shipwreck. 
Jf the winds of temptation blow, if tribulations 
rise up like rocks before thee, a look at the star, 
a sigh towards Mary. If the waves of pride, 
ambition, calumm^, jealousy, seek to SAvallow up 
thy soul, a look towards the star, a prayer to 
Mary. If anger, avarice, love of pleasure, shiver 
thy frail bark, seek the eyes of Mary. If horror 
of thy sins, trouble of conscience, dread of the 
judgments of God, begin to plunge thee into 
the gulf of sadness, the abyss of despair, attach 
thy heart to Mary. In thy dangers, thy anguish, 
thy doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary. Let 
Mary be on thy lips, in thy heart, and in the 
suffrage of her prayers lose not sight of the 
examples of her virtues. Following her, thou 
canst not wander; wiiilst thou pra3^est to her 
thou canst not be without hope ; as long as thou 
thinkest of her thou wilt be in the path ; thou 
canst not fall when she sustains thee ; thou hast 
nothing to fear while she protects thee ; if she 
favor thy voyage, thou wilt reach the harbor of 
safety without weariness." 



SECOND MEDITATION. 237 

SECOND MEDITATION. 

ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST ; FROM THE GARDEN" OF 
OLIVES TO HIS CONDEMNATION. 

First prelude. Place yourself bj^ your 
Sayiour's side ; follow Him wherever He goetli, 
and behold Him in all His sufferings. 

Second prelude. Beseech Him to enlighten 
you, that you may know the greatness of His 
love, the moving examples He sets before you, 
and may perfectly imitate them. 

FIRST POINT. 

Sacrifice of His liberty. 

Meditate how your Saviour delivers Himself 
up to His enemies ; with what rage they rush 
upon Him. How they load Him with chains, 
how cruelly they insult Him, and how rudely 
they drag Him along. Prostrate at His feet, 
adore your captive Saviour, and humbly kiss the 
chains He wears for your sake. 

Consider — 

First. That it is His love for you, not the 
power of His enemies, that has reduced Him to 
that captivity. He showed by the double mira- 
cle He performed in the garden, that His enemies 



238 SEVENTH DAY. 

had no power over Him, but what He was Him- 
self pleased to bestow upon them. Be grateful 
for that love. Second. That He is become a 
captive to expiate your criminal liberties. De- 
test them and repent for them. Third. That 
He has sacrificed His liberty, to tree you from the 
shameful bondage and slavery of sin,' and to pro- 
cure for you the glorious liberty of the children 
of God. Aspire to that blessed liberty, the 
only one that deserves the name, and use every 
means in your power to obtain it. Fourth. That 
He is become a captive, to win you over to the 
sweet captivity of His love. 

Sweet captivity! Glorious bondage, which 
makes you a child of God, an heir of Heaven, 
and leads you to the possession of His Kingdom. 
Accept of it; thank your Jesus for His love; 
ask Him pardon for your sins. Beg Him to 
break your bonds asunder. Beseech Him to 
make you a captive of His love. Put on those 
glorious chains, and never lay them aside. 

SECOND POINT. 

Sacrifice of His reputation and honor. 

Jesus Christ had by His holy life and mira- 
cles acquired a great reputation for power, for 
sanctity, and for wisdom, and had thus been an 



SECOND MEDITATION. 239 

object of veneration for the Jews. This day- 
He loses all this. First. The reputation of 
power, by falling into the power of His enemies, 
and appearing unable to rescue Himself from 
their hands. Second. Of His sanctity, by ap- 
pearing in chains, as a criminal, accused of most 
grievous crimes, and condemned to death as a 
blasphemer, a disturber of the public peace, and 
a seditious man. Third. Of wisdom, by His 
constant silence, never answering any thing to 
the accusations brought against Him, which in- 
duced Herod to treat Him as a fool and a sim- 
pleton. 

He also loses His honor. First. By the ig- 
iiomies and insults with which He was loaded ; 
He received a blow on His face in the High 
Priest's house. He w^as, during the whole night, 
the sport of the guards, who blindfolded Him, 
buffeted Him, spit in His face, bid Him in deri- 
sion guess who had struck Him. Those mock- 
eries and insults were repeated at His crowning 
with thorns, and on Mount Calvary. Second. 
He was compared with, nay, postponed to Bar- 
rabbas, a man infamous for murder and sedition. 
Third. He was condemned to suffer between two 
malefactors, as the greatest of them. 

Learn from all this how to despise the honors 

and reputation of a vain world. How frail, how 
21 



240 SEVENTH DAY. 

empty, how contemptible they appear in the 
eyes of a disciple of Jesus Christ, who has so 
manifestly disdained them ! But how precious 
and desirable must be to His true disciple, those 
reproaches, insults, derisions, slanders, outrages, 
and manifold ignominies, which He so cheerfully 
embraced for their sakes! Acknowledge that 
such a sinner as you are deserves no reputation, 
no glory, no honor whatsoever, but rather shame 
and ignominy. What have been hitherto your 
thoughts, your judgments, your inclinations in 
regard to these things ? Do they bear a con- 
formity with that of your Saviour ? Are you 
resolved to acquire that conformity for the 
future? "Be ye of the same mind, which is 
also in the Lord Jesus." 

THIRD POINT. 
Sacrifice of His body. 

Behold your Saviour exposed naked to the 
view of an insolent multitude, and tied to a 
pillar. Hear the cruel and numberless blows 
that are inflicted on His pure and innocent body. 
Behold His numerous wounds ; His flesh torn, 
and the blood streaming from every part. Pros- 
trate yourself at His feet, adore those wounds, 
that blood; and acknowledge that it is your 



SECOND MEDITATION. 241 

sins, that have thus armed His torturers. " Sin- 
ners have wrought on my back, says He by His 
Prophet — Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt 
peccatores." Hate your sinful flesh, and ask of 
your Saviour to give you the courage to mortify 
its vices and concupiscences. 

But turn now your eyes to a new scene 
Behold the innocent Lamb of God surrounded 
by a band of barbarous soldiers. An old purple 
cloak is thrown across His mangled shoulders, 
long and hard thorns are entwined together in 
form of a royal crown, which is laid on the sacred 
head of Jesus ; and with repeated blows sunk into 
His sacred brows. The thorns penetrate on 
every side, and open new streams of blood. Jesus 
bears this torment with an incredible patience, 
much less sensible of the cruel points of the 
thorns than our crimes which have placed them 
on His head. To this frightful torment His ene- 
mies add derision and insult^. They bend in 
mockery the knee before Him. They repeat 
their blows, they sink the crown deeper into His 
sacred head. They add buff*ets on His sacred face. 

Adore Him as your true King, your Sa^dour, 
and your God. Ask Him pardon for having, by 
your sins, put that crown of thorns on His head, 
and brought on Him all these ignominies. Offer 
Him to His heavenly Father, and beg mercy 



24:2 SEVENTH DAY. 

through Him. Beseech Hiin to grant you an 
utter contempt of worldly honors, and a relish 
for His humiliations. 

Read "Following of Christ," book ii. c . 12, one half. 



THIED MEDITATION. 

ON OUR SAVIOUR'S CRUCIFIXION. 

FIRST POINT. 

The carrying of the Cross. 

Pilate, after many difficulties, prevailed upon 
by human respect, consents at last to the death 
of Jesus, and pronounces his condemnation. A 
huge cross is immediately brought, and Jesus is 
obliged to carry it Himself, exhausted as He was, 
to Mount Cavalry. Let us join the pious women 
who followed Him, but let us remember the 
advice He gave them, rather to weep over our- 
selves, who are the real causes of His suj9ferings, 
than over Him. " Filise Jerusalem nolite flere 
super Me, sed super vos et Alios vestros." Let 
us observe the track of blood He leaves after 
Him ; but, above all, let us enter into His senti- 
ments with regard to His cross, which He so 



THIRD MEDITATION. 24:3 

willingly and so tenderly embraces, as a beloved 
Spouse, on which He is going to regenerate the 
world ; thus establishing it as the standard of 
His elect, the glorious portion of His disciples, 
the seal of His covenant, the instrument of the 
salvation of men, the terror of the powers of 
hell, the bulwark of His Church, the way to 
glory, and the gate of Heaven. Loaded, like 
another Isaac, with the wood of the sacrifice, 
carrying in His heart the fire and the sword, that 
is. His immense love. He ascends Mount Calvary, 
and reaches the top of it after a most painful 
march, and there He lays down His painful 
burden. 

Let us venerate that saving cross. Let us 
thank Jesus for having carried it for our sake. 
Let us beg Him to give us a place under that 
standard of salvation ; but let us also lovingly 
embrace it, and remember, that He has said: 
" If any man will come after Me, let him take 
up his cross, and follow Me;" and, "He who 
carries not his cross, can not be my disciple." 

SECOND POINT. 
The crucifixion. 

Jesus is scarcely arrived at the place of exe- 
cution, when His enemies hasten to prepare the 



244 ' SEVENTH DAY. 

instruments of His death. He is again stripped 
of Hi's clothes ; they had by this time stuck to 
His wounds, which were thereby all re-opened. 
Oh ! Innocent Victim, in how pitiful a state thou 
appearest to my eyes ! How are not the hearts 
of Thy torturers moved with compassion ? Oh ! 
Eternal Father! Oh! God, just and terrible! 
Behold the limbs already mangled and bleeding, 
of Thy beloved Son, which are to be substituted 
for the ancient victims. Will, at length. Thy 
wrath be satisfied? Jesus is commanded to lay 
Himself down on the cross. He respects His 
Father's holy will in the order of His enemies ; 
He obeys without resistance; He lies on this 
bed of sorrows without any thing else whereon 
to lean His head, but the thorns with which it 
is crowned; He presents His adorable hands; 
two gross nails driven through them, fasten them 
to the cross ; He stretches out His feet, which 
are pierced and fixed to the wood with the same 
relentless cruelty. Behold the great altar of the 
whole world, on which is offered to God the 
only Victim that can effectually appease Him. 
From His four wounds, issue forth four springs 
of- sacred blood, which, like so many salutary 
streams, flow upon the earth, to cleanse it irom 
its iniquities. Adore that precious blood. Offer 
that Victim to the heavenly Father. Beg pardon 



THIRD MEDITATION. 245 

and mercy through Him. Beg Jesus Christ to 
crucify you with Him, that you may say with 
St. Paul, "Cum Christo confixus sum cruci — 
With Christ I am nailed to the cross ! " Beg Him 
to crucify your flesh, with all its lusts; your 
heart, with all its vicious propensities. Beg to be 
crucified to the world, and resolve to lead a 
crucified life firom this time forward. 

THIRD POINT. 
Jesus raised, living and dying, on the Cross. 

Consider what your Saviour suffered when 
they dragged the cross to the hole prepared to 
receive it, when they let it down, and when they 
fastened it by driving wedges with repeated 
strokes. It was then, according to the Prophet's 
prediction, that His bones w^ere dislocated, so 
that they could be counted — " Dinumeraverunt 
omnia ossa mea." Place yourself now at the 
foot of the cross. Contemplate your crucified 
Saviour. View every x)art of His body, and see 
if there is one without suffering. Enter into 
His interior, and behold the extreme desolation 
of His blessed soul. Hear Him amorously com- 
plain to His Father, that He had forsaken Him. 
What do I say ? His Father ! Ah ! it seems that 
He does not dare, any longer, call Him by this 



246 SEVENTH DAY. 

tender name. He calls Him, His God. "My 
God! My God ! Why hast Thou forsaken Me? — 
Deus mens, Deus mens, qnare me dereliquisti ? " 
He lives three hours in these torturing pains, 
and pangs of death ; hanging between Heaven 
and earth, as the Mediator between God and 
man ; praying for our reconciliation, and offering 
Himself as an holocaust to repair His Father's 
glory. In fine, all is accomplished ; and Jesus, 
with a loud cry, recommending His soul into 
His Father's hands, bowing down His sacred 
head in sign of submission, expires ! — " damans 
voce magna expiravit." 

Here it behooves us to imitate Him, and to 
unite together in our hearts all the sentiments 
which have animated them during the course of 
our meditations of our Saviour's sufferings: of 
admiration, compassion, love, sorrow, gratitude, 
fervor, and mortification. 

ASPIRATIONS. 

"Cum Ohristo confixus sum cruci! — With 
Christ I am nailed to the cross." 

"Mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo — 
The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." 

"Amor mens crucifixus est — My love is 
crucified." 



THIRD MEDITATION. 247 

" Christus passus est pro nobis, vobis relin- 
quens exemplum ut sequamini vestigia ejus — 
Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example 
that you should follow His footsteps.'' 

"Si compatimur, ut et conglorificemur — ^If 
we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified 
with Him." 

Read " Following of Christ," book ii. c. 12. 



FOURTH WEEK, 



VIA UNITIVA. 
THE WAY OF UNION BY LOVE. 

During this Week we meditate on the glorious 
mysteries. We rise with Christ in His trium- 
phant Resurrection ; we ascend with Him into 
Heaven; and there associating, with the sera- 
phim around His throne, we catch some sparks 
of that fire of love with wliich they are all aglow. 
In this heavenly school we learn, thoroughly and 
practically, that love is indeed the fulfillment 
and complement of the law. 

Sursum Corda ! Lift up your hearts ! even 
to the heavenly Jerusalem, where dwelleth, in 
light inaccessible, and in glory ineffable, our 
blessed Jesus, ever living at the right hand of 
His Father, to make intercession for us ! He 
went thither on our behalf, in our name, as our 
Leader, to prepare a place for us. He loved us 
( 248 ) 



FOURTH WEEK. 249 

even unto the end ; He will love us through all 
eternity, with an eternal love. He wishes to 
unite us to Himself for ever more, by the sweet 
and golden bonds of love. 

. The practical fruit, then, of this Week's exer- 
cises, is to unite ourselves with Christ by love 
in this world, that we may be united with Him 
by love inseparably and eternally in Heaven. 

Eise, then, my soul, from the lowliness and 
darkness of thy present place of exile ; look up 
to Heaven, thy real and eternal home ; shake 
off the dust from thy feet, and wipe away the 
tears of sorrow from thy eyes ; the hour of thy 
redemption and final triumph draweth near! 
Yet a little while, and thou wilt be able to take 
the wings of the dove, to fly away, and to be at 
rest forever more in the bosom of God, who is 
love — thy first BEGiNNmo, and thy last end! 
Courage, my soul ! One brief day for sorrow, an 
eternity for joy! The crown is well worth the 
small labor and the trifling privations necessary 
for its attainment. Shalt thou win and wear it, 
or shalt thou through pusillanimity lose it for- 
ever? 



250 EIGHTH DAY. 

O my Jesus, having strengthened my good 
resolutions by Thy holy Passion and Cross, do 
Thou vouchsafe now to complete the work which 
Thou hast begun, and to transform by Thy love 
into Thyself what Thou have deigned already 
to confirm by Thy grace, thus verifying the 
the motto of this Week — 

CONFIRMATA TrANSFORMARE. 



EIGHTH DAY. 



FIRST MEDITATION. 

01^ THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. When our Lord had breathed 
His last sigh, His body, taken down from the 
cross, was placed in the sepulchre : His soul de- 
scended into Limbus to deliver the souls of the 
just; then returned to the sepulchre the third 
day, and withdrew from it His body, which was 



FIRST MEDITATION. 251 

then united to it never more to be separated. 
The risen Saviour appeared, first, to His blessed 
mother, then to the holy women, and at different 
times to the disciples and apostles. 

Second prelude. Represent to yourself the 
sepulchre from wliich Jesus Christ arose, and 
some of the places that witnessed His appari- 
tions — for example, the road to Emaus, etc. 

Third prelude. Beg the grace to participate 
in the joy of Jesus Christ and of His blessed 
mother. 

FIRST POINT. 

The glory of Jesus in His resurrection. 

Consider the glory of the Saviour in His 
resurrection, and how faithfully His Father 
rewards all the sacrifices of His sufiiering life. 

1. In His passion Jesus Christ had made the 
sacrifice of His body. We have seen this 
sacred body scourged and on the cross, only 
ofiering to the eye one bleeding wound, and 
scarce allowing the features of the Son of man 
to be recognized : " From the sole of the foot 
unto the top of the head there is no soundness 
therein ;" ( Is. i. 6 ; ) "There is no beauty in Him, 
nor comeliness; and we have seen Him, and 
there was no sightliness." ( Is. liii. 2.) In the 
resurrection, the body of Jesus Christ takes a 



252 EIGHTH DAY. 

\ 

new life — an immortal life. He is raised in a 
manner to the nature of spirits; like them 
He is endowed with agility and impassibility. 
In the place of that beauty destroyed by His 
executioners, He is clothed with a splendor sur- 
passing that of the sun. This glory of the body 
of Jesus Christ is promised to our body also, but 
on the condition that, after the example of Jesus 
Christ, we ofler up ourselves by penance : " Yet 
so if we suffer with Him, that we may be also 
glorified with Him." (Eom. yiii. 17.) Let us 
courageously embrace Christian mortification, 
of which the following are the three principal 
degrees : (1) to suffer patiently all the trials that 
are independent of our will, — for example, sick- 
ness, infirmities, the inclemencies of the season, 
&c.; (2) not to allow our senses any criminal 
enjoyment; (3) to resist our senses, whether by 
imposing voluntary afflictions on them, or by 
refusing them allowable enjoyments. 

2. In His passion Jesus Christ had made the 
sacrifice of His honor and glory. Before the 
tribunals and on Calvary we have seen Him, 
according to the oracle of the prophets, treated 
as the lowest of men, with the reproach of man- 
kind: "The most abject of men," (Is. liii. 3; 
"The reproach of men." (Psalm xxi. 7.) Classed 
with the wicked; "And was reputed with the 



FIRST MEDITATION. 253 

'Wicked." (Is. liii. 12.) Loaded with ignominy; 
trodden under foot like a worm of the earth: 
''A worm and no man." (Psalm xxi. 7.) Now, 
in the resurrection, all is repaired : Jerusalem is 
filled with the news of His triumph ; the judges 
who condemned Him are confounded; the sol- 
diers, who insulted Him as a seducer and a 
madman, are the first witnesses of His glory; 
His disciples and Apostles who had abandoned 
Him, everywhere proclaim His resurrection; the 
angels and the holy souls He has delivered from 
Limbus bless Him as the conqueror of death 
and hell: "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
us to God in thy blood, and hast made us to our 
God a kingdom and priests. The Lamb that was 
slain is worthy to receive power and divinity." 
(Apoc. V. 9-12.) Conceive a holy contempt for 
the opinion and esteem of men; place your 
honor in the hands of God, and know how to 
make the sacrifice of it to Him when He requires 
it, being assured that He will faithfully return it 
to you a hundredfold: "I also suffer; but I am 
not ashamed. For I know whom I have be- 
lieved, and I am certain that He is able to keep 
that which I have committed unto Him against 
that day." (2 Tim. i. 12.) 

3. In His passion Jesus Christ had made the 
sacrifice of His interior consolations. His soul 



254 EIGHTH DAY. 

was steeped in bitterness: in the Garden of* 
Olives we have heard Him cry out, "My soul is 
sorrowful even unto death," (Matt. xxvi. 38 ;) and 
on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou 
forsaken me ?" (Mark xv. 34.) Now the time of 
desolation is past never to return; His soul 
enters into possession of a happiness without 
end; it is inundated with the delights of Para- 
dise, with all the joys of the divinity which is 
united to Him. Animate your hope by your 
faith. Recall to yourself that you are called to 
share this felicity of the Son of God one day in 
heaven. And when sacrifices alarm you or trials 
depress you, say to yourself with the Apostle, 
"For that which is at present momentary and 
light of our tribulation, worketh for us above 
measure an eternal weight of glory." (2 Oor. 
iv. 17.) 

SECOND POINT. 
The apparitions of Jesus Christ after His resurrection. 

Consider to whom Jesus Christ appeared, 
how He appeared, and why He appeared. 

1. To whom Jesus Christ appeared. He 
axjpeared, (1) according to the general opinion, 
to his blessed mother; not only on account of 
the incomparable dignity of Mary, but above all, 
because no one had participated so much in His 



FIRST MEDITATION. 255 

sprrows and in the opprobrium of Bis passion. 
So Jesus Christ teaches you that you will only 
participate in His consolations in proportion to 
your constancy in suffering, after EQs example, 
and for His love. ' 

(2) He appeared next, not to the Apostles, 
but to Magdalen and the holy women. And 
why to these holy women? To reward their 
simplicity and fervor, and to teach you that it is 
to simple and fervent souls that He is pleased 
to communicate Himself: "His communication 
is with the simple." (Prov. iii. 32.) 

(3) Lastly, He appears to the Apostles; but 
it is after Peter and John have been to the sepul- 
chre and have merited the grace of seeing our 
Saviour by the zeal of their search. Learn from 
this, that to find Jesus Christ we must seek 
Him long by prayer and desire. Happy they 
w^ho know how to draw Jesus -Christ to them ! 
Happy they who know how to retain Jesus 
Christ with them! "It is a great art to know 
how to converse with Jesus, and to know how 
to retain Jesus is a great prudence." {Imit of 
Christy book ii. ch. 8.) 

2. Hoio Jesus appeared. All the apparitions 
of the Saviour brought joy and consolation to 
their souls. He appeared to Mary ; and who can 

express with w^hat a toiTent of spiritual delight 

22 



256 EIGHTH DAY. 

He inundated her heart ? He appeared to Mag- 
dalen, saying to her, "Mary!" and this word 
alone, making him known, transports and rav- 
ishes the soul of Magdalen. He appeared to the 
Apostles, saying to them, " Peace be with you ; 
and He said to them again. Peace be with you ;" 
(John XX. 19, 21;) And the sight of Him and 
these words filled all their hearts with joy : " The 
disciples therefore were glad when they saw the 
Lord." (John xx. 20.) 

Let us learn to recognize by these signs the 
presence of Jesus Christ, and the characteristics 
which distinguish the action of His spirit in our 
souls from the action of the evil spirit. The one 
announces himself by obscurity, trouble, depres- 
sion and agitation; the other, on the contrary, 
announces Himself by light, peace, interior con- 
solation. Above all, let us know how to profit 
by the visits of Jesus Christ; and let us not 
forget that to lose His sensible grace and the 
consolation of His presence, it suffices only to 
bestow too much of our thoughts on exterior 
things: "You may easily banish Jesus and lose 
His grace, if you give yourself too much to exte- 
rior things." {Tmit of Christy book ii. ch. 8.) 

3. Why Jesus Christ appeared. For three 
reasons, which the Gospel indicates to us ; — to 
strengthen the still hesitating faith of the Apos- 



FIRST MEDITATION. 257 

ties; to prepare them for an approaching and 
long separation; to animate them to the sacri- 
fices He is going to ask of them. The interior 
visits with which Jesus Christ favors souls are 
for the following purposes. If He honors us 
with lights and consolations, it is always to 
impress a greater liveliness on our faith, — to 
prepare us for interior desolation and trials, — to 
animate us for the sacrifices He will soon ask 
of us in the practice of virtue. 

COLLOQUIES. 

1st. With the holy Virgin. Congratulate her 
on her happiness, and join in her joy. 

Regina Cxli. 

2d. With our Lord Jesus Christ. Adore Him 
in the glory of His resurrection, and consecrate 
yourself anew to Him as to your Saviour and 
your Edng. 

Prayer — Susovpe. 



258 EIGHTH DAY. 



CONSIDERATION 

ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER 
OF GOD. 

FIRST EXERCISE. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. Salute Mary, Mother of God, 
with the angel Gabriel. 

Second prelude. Ask of Jesus Christ a high 
esteem and great veneration for His mother. 

Consider — 

1. What union the Divine maternity estab- 
lished between Jesus and Mary. 

2. What virtues this august title presupposes 
in her. 

3. What authority it confers on her. 

FIRST PomT. 

Mary is not only the privileged daughter of 
the Father, the beloved spouse of the Holy 
Ghost, she is also the mother of the Son of God, 

1. In this quality, she is united to Jesus in the 
eternal decrees and in the promises of the 
Saviour, made in the beginning of all time. It 
is by her that the head of the serpent is to be 
crushed. (Gen. iii. 13.) She is united to her 
Divine Son in the oracles of the prophets. 
Isaias announces this branch of Jesse, and the 
blessed fruit she is to bear, ( Isaias xi. 1 ; ) the 



CONSIDERATION. 259 

Virgin Mother and the Emmanuel her Son, 
( Isaias vii. 14 ; ) Jeremias predicts this marvel- 
lous woman, mother of a perfect man, (Jer. 
xxxi. 22 ; ) David sings of this Queen seated on 
the right hand of the heavenly King. (Psalm 
xliv. 10.) The book of Wisdom describes the 
wonders of the temple that Wisdom had chosen 
for its dwelling. ( Wisdom ix., etc.) 

2. She is united to Jesus in the figures of the 
ancient law. Eve, says St. Augustine, was, in 
more than one point of resemblance or opposi- 
tion, a figure of Mary. Eve was drawn from 
Adam's side ; Mary draws all her merits from 
her Divine Son. Eve, seduced by an angel of 
darkness, was the first cause of our ruin ; Mary, 
persuaded by an angel from Heaven, began the 
work of our redemption. Her intercession and 
power are figured by Esther obtaining grace for 
her people, by Judith victorious over' Holo- 
phernes; her Immaculate Conception by the 
burning bush, which the flames surrounded 
without touching, by that wonderful fleece which 
alone in a vast plain received the dew of 
Heaven. ^ 

3. She is united to the Son of God, above all, 
at the moment of the incarnation. Then her 
Creator became her Child. ( Ecclus. xxiv. 12.) 
The blood of Mary became the blood of Jesus ; 
Jesus is flesh of her flesh; He lives with her 
life, breathes with her breath ; He is in her, to 
her, of her entirely. Thus the angel says: "The 
Lord is with Thee." (Luke i. 28.) Elizabeth 
says, "Behold the mother of my Lord." ( ib. 44.) 



260 EIGHTH DAY. 

And the Church, in the third General Council, 
declares : "If any one refuse to call Mary Mother 
of God, let him be anathema." (Act of the 
Council of Ephesits.) 

4. But, 'above all, the holy soul of Mary is 
united to the adorable soul of Jesus. She con- 
ceived Him in her heart before receiving Him 
in her bosom, says St. Bernard. She unites her- 
self to Him by the most lively faith, the most 
ardent charity, by the consent, the memory of 
which we revere in the " Angelus " three times 
a day, and which associates her with His whole 
destiny. So Mary is found with Jesus at Beth- 
lehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, in Jerusalem, and, 
above all, on Calvary, where the sword of sor- 
row pierced her soul when the lance opened 
the heart of her Divine Son. 

5. Jesus ascends to Heaven, and Mary is soon 
placed on His right hand, that is, associated 
with His glory and His all-powerful action in 
the salvation of the world; united to the King 
of Heaven by an ineffable union. Here on 
earth the Son and the Mother are united in the 
praises of the Fathers, in the prayers of the 
Christian Liturgy, in the definitions of councils, 
in the solemnities of the Church. We see Chris- 
tians honoring, always in union, the Incarnation 
of Jesus, the Conception of Mary; the birth of 
Jesus, the nativity of Mary ; the presentation of 
Jesus, the presentation of Mary; the baptism 
of Jesus, the purification of Mary ; the suffer- 
ings of Jesus, the dolours of Mary ; the ascen- 
sion of Jesus, the assumption of Mary; the 



CONSIDERATION. 261 

sacred heart of Jesus, the holy heart of Mary. 
The names of Jesus and Mary live always united 
in the hearts and the songs of the faithful ; their 
temples and their altars are always near together, 
and nothing is more inseparable in their pious 
remembrances, their confidence, their invocation, 
their love, than Jesus and Mary. 



SECOND POINT. 

And what creature was more like to Jesus 
than Mary? 

The laws of nature ordain that the son should 
resemble the mother ; the laws of grace ordained 
beforehand that the mother should possess all 
the characters suitable to the son. Here recall 
with profound respect — 

1. Her Immaculate Conception; which ren- 
ders her a stranger to sin and its consequences, 
and to all the occasions leading to sin. This 
privilege alone, Avhich separates Mary from the 
mass of iniquity out of which we have all come, 
raises her above all the saints as much as the 
Heavens are above the earth. 

2. Her celestial virginity; which the ap- 
proach of an angel alarms ; that would shrink 
from the Divine maternity, if the Mother of God 
could cease to be a virgin; which the Holy 
Ghost renders fruitful and a mother by an ineffa- 
ble miracle. 

3. Her profound humility ; which, says a 
holy Father, made her merit the Divine mater- 
nity : " Behold," said she, " the handmaid of the 



262 EIGHTH DAY. 

Lord. He hath regarded the humility of His 
handmaid. He hath exalted the humble. He 
hath filled the hungry with good things." ( Luke 
i. 38, 48, 52, 53.) 

4. Iler perfect charity ; which made her so 
prompt in visiting Elizabeth, so faithful in pre- 
serving in her heart the words of life, so atten- 
tive at the marriage of Cana, so devoted, so 
heroic during the labors and sorrows of her Son, 
so useful to the Apostles, so dear to the infant 
Church, 

THIRI) POINT. 

What authority does not this Divine maternity 
give to Mary? Jesus Christ the Son of God, 
and Himself God, obeyed her thirty years; 
thirty years He executes her will, consults and 
forestalls her wishes. What a lesson does the 
docility of this true Son give to us sons by adop- 
tion ; to us sons of Adam the docility of the 
Son of God! ( St. Bernard.) 

Jesus Christ on the cross gave her to us for 
our Mother. The Mother of God is, then, our 
Mother,exercising over us the maternal authority 
in all its meaning and extent. 

Jesus Christ in Heaven, say the holy Fathers, 
still obeys the humble prayers of Mary. He 
has made her intercession all-powerful ; He has 
established her the distributor of graces, the 
succor of Christians, the defense of the Church 
against infidelity and heresy. Giving us Jesus 
through Mary was to give us all through Mary. 



CONSIDERATIOX. 263 

From the conception of Jesus the way was thus 
traced: "We receive all from her who gave us 
Jesus." ( St. Bernard.) 

How great, then, is the authority of the Queen 
of Heaven, how extensive is the power of the 
Mother of God! In what peril are those who 
forget her or insult her! how safe are those she 
protects I 

COLLOQUY. 

Say to her, with the angel, " Hail, Mary, full 
of grace," etc.; or, mth St. Cyril, the oracle of 
the GEcumenical council, "Glory be to you, holy 
Mother of God, masterpiece of the universe, 
brilliant star, glory of virginity, sceptre of faith, 
indestructible temple, inhabited by Him whom 
immensity can not contain. Virgin mother of 
Him who, blessed for ever, comes to us in the 
name of the Lord, by you the Trinity is glorified, 
the holy cross celebrated and adored throughout 
the universe, the Heavens are joyful, the angels 
tremble mth joy, the devils are put to flight, man 
passes from slavery to Heaven. Through you 
idolatrous creatures have known incarnate truth, 
the faithful have received baptism, churches 
have been raised -all over the world; by your 
assistance the Gentiles have been led to repent- 
ance. Finall}^, through you the only Son of 
God, source of all light, has shone on the eyes 
of the blind, who were sitting in the shadow of 
death. But, O Virgin Mother, who can speak 
your praises ! Let us, however, celebrate them 
23 



264 EIGHTH DAY. 

according to our powers, and at the same time 
adore God thy Son, the chaste Spouse of the 
Church, to whom are due all honor and glory 
now and through all eternity. Amen." (St 
Cyril's Homily against Nestorius.) 



SECOND MEDITATION. 

ON THE BLESSED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN. 

Prejparatory Prayer. 

First prelude, Kepresent to yourself our 
Lord seated on His throne at the right hand of 
His Father; beside Him the Blessed Virgin; 
around the throne the angels and the elect. 

Second prelude. Beg for an ardent desire 
of heaven, and the courage to suflfer on earth 
vrith Jesus Christ, that you may one day reign 
with Him in eternity. 

FIRST POINT. 

Jesus Christ in heaven suffers no more. 

Consider that our Lord in heaven is free from 
all the trials and pains which He experienced in 
His mortal life. His body, since His resurrec- 
tion, is withdrawn from the empire of weakness 



SECOND MEDITATIOX. 265 

and death. His soul, inundated with the delights 
of the divinity united to Him, is henceforward 
a stranger to sadness and desolation. 

In heaven, the Christian, like his Divine 
Head, will be forever freed from all bodily pains, 
and from all auctions of the soul. 

1. In heaven tliere are no more infirmities. 
The body, clothed with the glory of Jesus Christ, 
will be raised, like that of the Saviour, to a state 
of impassibility: "Who will reform the body of 
our lowness, made like to the body of His glory." 
( Philipj). iii. 21.) In this abode of perfect beati- 
tude the blessed no longer know what it is to 
suffer and die: "And death shall be no more." 
(Apoc. xxi. 4.) 

2. In heaven there is no more grief or sorrow. 
"Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall 
be any more." (Apoc. xxi. 4.) Here below, what 
is life but one long, unceasing affliction? In 
heaven all tears are dried: "God shall Vvdpe 
away all tears fi'om their eyes." (Apoc. vii. 17.) 
They remember past sorrows, but tliis memorj^ 
is for the elect a part of thefr beatitude. Each 
one of them, like the prophet, applauds his past 
trials. Each one of them says, Happy tribula- 
tions, which are now repaid by an immense 
weight of glory; "We have rejoiced for the days 



266 EIGHTH DAY. '^ 

in which Thou hast humbled us ; for the years 
in which we have seen evils." ( Psalm Ixxxi. 15.) 

3. T71 lieaven there are no more separations. 
Here below, to poison the sweets of friendship, 
this thought alone suffices: "How long will the 
society of these friends, of these relatives so 
tenderly loved, continue?" But once in the 
bosom of God, the elect meet to part no more. 
What joy for a Christian family to meet again, 
after the long and sad separation of the grave ! 
What joy to be able to say with confidence, 
"We are again united, and it is for eternity!" 

4. In heaven there are no more temptations. 
Here on earth is for the Christian a struggle of 
every day and every moment; and in this strug- 
gle a continual danger of losing the grace of 
God, his soul, and eternity. Hence the groans' 
of the saints, who never cease crying out with 

/ the prophet, "Woe is me, that my sojourning is 
prolonged," (Psalm cxix. 5;) or with the Apos- 
tle, " Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death?" (Kom. vii. 24.) 
The lament of the exile is never heard in this 
country. There is no longer any thing to fear 
fi'om the world, which has no more illusions; 
nor from hell, which is conquered ; nor from our 
own hearts, which only live for Divine love. 
There every thing says, as did formerly holy 



SECOND MEDITATION. 267 

King David, ''He hath delivered my soul from 
death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. 
I will please the Lord in the land of the living." 
(Psalm cxiv. 89.) 

5. In Jieaven^ above all^ there is no more sin. 
Recall what you have meditated on the malice 
of sin. It is the supreme evil, the one only evil 
of time and eternity ; the sole evil of the crea- 
ture, the great evil done against God. Banished 
into hell, sin can not penetrate into the kingdom 
of charity. Oh, the happiness of that day, when, 
entering into heaven, the elect shall say. My 
God is mine, and I am His! "My beloved to 
me and I to Him." ( Cant. ii. 16.) I am united 
to Him forever, and sin can never separate me 
from Him: "I held Him, and will not let ffim 
go." ( Cant. iii. 4.) 

SECOND POINT. 

Jesus Christ in heaven has no longer any thing to desire. 

What our Lord asked of His Father is accom- 
plished: "And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, 
with Thyself, with the glory which I had before 
the world was, with Thee." (John xvii. 5.) The 
holy humanity of our Saviour is glorified, and 
His glory is this blessed possession of God, in 
which His soul loses itself in the plenitude of 
all good. 



268 EIGHTH DAY. 

To possess God, and in God to possess all 
good — such is also the bliss which awaits us in 
heaven; a sovereign and universal beatitude, 
which will be the full satisfaction of the entire 
man. 

1. Beatitude of the senses. The body raised 
up at the last day and united to the soul, whose 
servant it was, will partake of its felicity. The 
ear will not weary of hearing the sacred songs 
of the elect; the eye will never tire in contem- 
plating the light of Paradise, the splendor of the 
glorified saints, the sweet majesty of Mary on 
her throne, the lustre of the adorable humanity 
of Jesus Christ; — all the senses will be inebri- 
ated with these pure and spiritual pleasures, 
which appear to belong only to the celestial 
intelligences: "They shall be inebriated with 
the plenty of Thy house ; and Thou shalt make 
them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure." 
(Psalm XXXV. 9.) 

2. Beatitude of memory. With what joy will 
the saints recall the graces they have received 
from God, the virtues they practised on earth ! 
How will a martyr congratulate himself on his 
sufferings, an apostle on his labors, a confessor 
on his sacrifices! How each one of the elect 
will return thanks to God for His mercies! 
With what an eff'usion of gratitude and happiness 



SECOND MEDITATION. 269 

will they say to tliemselves, On such a day God 
inspired me with the desire to serve him alone ; 
and it is this inspiration that has led me to heaven : 
on such a day God preserved me from this temp- 
tation, withdrew me from this occasion or habit 
of sin! What care His providence took for my 
salvation! and what had I done to merit that 
He should save me in preference to so many 
who are lost forever? 

3. Beatitude of the intellect Closely united 
to God, the intelligence of the elect sees all 
truth in Him as in a mirror. Suppose the rudest 
man in the world, the most ignorant of science, 
enters heaven; that moment his soul is inun- 
dated with lights so vivid that before them the 
lights of the greatest geniuses are but darkness: 
it sees God without veil and face to face ; and 
in God sees all things, — the wonderful laws that 
govern the world ; the mysteries of providence ; 
the secrets of the redemption of men and of the 
predestination of the elect; the attributes of 
the Divine nature, — wisdom, power, goodness, 
immensity, eternity; the Tliree Persons of the 
Trinity, with their relations and ineffable opera- 
tion. The soul sees God, and this sight, in a 
manner, transforms it into God Himself, accord- 
ing to the words of St. John: "We know that 



270 EIGHTH DAY. 

when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him ; 
because we shall see Him as He is." ( 1 John 
iii. 2.) 

4. Beatitude of the will. This beatitude 
will be to love and possess God. To love God 
is the true object of our heart. But here below 
how weak is this love, how it is mingled with 
lowness and imperfections, how subject it is to 
change and inconstancy! In heaven, scarcely 
does God show Himself to the soul before He 
subjugates it and ravishes it forever; — sovereign 
love which rules all the affections ; love so pure 
that the blessed forget themselves to be lost in 
God; love so ardent and so strong that it absorbs 
and exhausts all the power of loving; love so 
ecstatic that the soul goes out of itself and 
passes entirely into God to be consummated in. 
unity with Him. It is the expression of our 
Lord; ''The glory which Thou hast given Me, I 
have given to them, that they may be one, as 
We also are one." ( John xvii. 22.) 

" God ! when shall it be given me to see 
the glory of Thy Idngdom ? When will the day 
arrive that Thou shalt be all in all to me? 
When shall I be with Tliee in the mansions . 
which Thou has eternally prepared for Thy 
beloved? " ( Imit, of Christy book iii. c. 48.) 



SECOND MEDITATION, 271 

THIRD POINT. 

Jesus Christ in heaven has no change to dread. 

The reign of Jesus Christ in heaven is safe 
from all vicissitudes : it will have no end. He 
will reign eternally at the right hand of His 
Father, always triumphant, always sovereign, 
always the object of love to the saints and 
angels, as of the sweetest approbation of His 
Father : Cujus regni non erit finis^ " Of whose 
kingdom there shall be no end." 

The beatitude of the saints is immutable, 
like that of the Son of God. It is the insepara- 
ble condition of worldly goods to be accom- 
panied by fear or distaste, sometimes by both at 
once: fear, because each moment they may 
escape ; distaste, because we can not long enjoy 
them without recognizing andfeeling their vanity. 
It is not so with the goods of eternity. These 
are unchangeable, and therefore have no end or 
diminution. Add ages to ages ; multiply them 
equal to the sand of the ocean or the stars of 
heaven : exhaust all the numbers, if you can, 
beyond what the human intelligence can con- 
ceive, and for the elect there will be still the same 
eternity of happiness. They are immutable, 
and this immutability excludes weariness and 



272 EIGHTH DAY. 

disgust. The life of an elect soul is one suc- 
cession, without end, of desires ever arising 
and ever satisfied, but desires without trouble, 
satiety, or lassitude. The elect will always see 
God, love God, possess God, and always will wish 
to see Him, love Him, and possess Him still more. 

This beatitude is the end destined for all ; 
God has given us time only in order to merit it, 
being and life only to possess it. Reflect seri- 
ously on this great truth, and ask yourself these 
three questions at the foot of the crucifix : 

What have I done hitherto for heaven? 
What ought I to do for heaven ? What shall I 
do henceforward for heaven ? 

Colloquies with the Blessed Virgin and our 
Lord glorified in heaven. 

Anima Christi. Pater. Ave. 



THIED MEDITATION. 

ON THE LOVE OF GOD. 

First remarh. True love consists in fruits 
and effects, not in words: "My little children," 
says the beloved disciple, "let us not love in 
word, nor in tongue ; but indeed and in truth." 
(IJohniii. 18.) 



THIRD MEDITATION. 273 

Second^ remark. The effect of true love is 
the reciprocal communication of all good things 
between the persons who love each other; 
whence it follows, that charity can not exist with- 
out sacrifice. Do not, then, content yourself 
with tender and affectionate sentiments; "For," 
says St. Gregory, "the proof of love is in the 
works : where love exists, it works great things ; 
but when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist." 

CONTEMPLATION. 

Preparatory Prayer. 

First prelude. Place yourself in spirit in 
the presence of God, and figure to yourself that 
you are before His throne in the midst of saints 
and angels who intercede for you with the Lord. 

Second prehcde. Ask of God the grace to 
comprehend the greatness of His benefits, and 
to consecrate yourself without reserve to His 
love and service. 

riRST POINT. 

Recall to yourself the benefits of God. 
These benefits are of three principal orders; 
henefits of creation^ henefits of redemption^ par- 
ticular henefits. In the first order are comprised 
all the natural gifts ; — the soul with its powers, 



274 EIGHTH DAY. 

the body with its senses, life with the good 
things which accompany it. In the second are 
comprised all the supernatural graces, the suffer- 
ings and death of Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, 
etc. In the third are all the graces that we 
receive every day and every hour from Divine 
Providence. 

Consider attentively these three orders of the 
Divine benefits, and in each one meditate on 
these three circumstances, in which St. Ignatius 
shows us the characters of true charity. In 
each you will find: 

1. A love which acts and manifests itself by 
works. What more active than the charity of 
God in the creation, preservation, and redemp- 
tion of man ? 

2. A love that gives, that lavishes its goods. 
Has God any thing of which He has not given 
part to man ? Has He not given Himself on the^ 
cross for an example, and in the Eucharist, His 
body. His blood. His divinity, His hfe, and all 
His being? 

3. A love never satisfied with what it has 
given, and that would always give more. Is 
not this the love of God towards us ? Is it not 
true that His greatest gifts have not been able 
to exhaust the prodigality of His heart? Is it 
not true that there is in Him a desire to do us 



THIRD MEDITATION. 275 

good which will never be satisfied until He has 
given Himself to us entu'ely and for ever in 
Heaven ? 

After having meditated on these characters 
of Divine charity, return to yourself and ask 
j^ourself what gratitude and justice require in 
return for such marvellous generosity. You 
have nothing of yourself: you hold all from 
God; what else, then, can you do but offer 
Him all that you have and all that you are ? 
Say to Him, then, with all the affection of your 
heart : 

Sitscijoe^ Domine^ etc.: "Take, O Lord, and 
receive my entire liberty, my memory, mj un- 
derstanding, and my whole will. All that I am, 
all that I have. Thou hast given me, and I give it 
back again to Thee, to be disposed of according 
to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love 
and Thy grace ; with these I am rich enough, 
and ask no more." 

SECOND POINT. 

Consider that God, your Benefactor, is present 
in all creatures and in yourself. If you look at 
every step of the visible creation, in all you will 
meet God. He is in the elements, He gives 
them existence ; in plants, He gives them life ; 



2l6 EIGHTH DAY. 

in animals. He gives them sensation. He is in 
you ; and, collecting all these degrees of being 
scattered through the rest of His creation. He 
unites them in you, and adds to them intelhgence. 
And how is this great God in you ? In the most 
noble, the most excellent manner. He is in you 
as in His temple, as in a sanctuary where He 
sees His own image, where He finds an intelli 
gence capable of knowing and loving Him. 
Thus your Benefactor is always with you ; He is 
more intimately united to you than your soul is 
to your body. You ought, then — and this is the 
second degree of love — ^you ought as much as 
possible not to lose sight of Him. Ton ought 
to think and act in His presence, to keep yourself 
before Him like a child before a tenderly-loved 
father, studying the slightest sign of His will 
and wish. Finish this second point by a renewed 
offering of yourself, and one, if possible, still 
more affectionate and unreserved. 

THIRD POINT. 

Consider not only that God your Benefactor 
is present, but also that He acts continually in 
all His creatures. And for whom is this con- 
tinual action, this work of God in nature ? For 
you. Thus, He lights you by the light of day; He 



THIRD MEDITATION. 277 

nourishes you with the productions of the earth ; 
in a ^Yord, He serves you by each one of the 
creatures that you use ; so that it is true to say 
that at every moment the bounty, the wisdom, 
and the power of God are at your service, and 
are exercised in the world for your w^ants oi 
pleasures. Tliis conduct of God towards man 
should be the model of j^our conduct towards 
God. You see that the presence of God in His 
creatures is never idle; it acts incessantly, it 
preserves, it governs. Beware, then, of stopping 
at a sterile contemplation of God present in 
yourself Add action to contemplation; to the 
sight of the Divine presence add the faithful 
accomplishment of the Divine will. Meditate 
well on the two characters of the action of God 
in the world, so as to reproduce them as much 
as possible in your own deeds. What more 
active than God, and at the same time what 
more calm and tranquil? He is incessantly 
occupied with the care of His creatures; and 
yet He is never distracted from the interior con- 
templation of His essence and of His attributes. 
Learn in the exercise of the presence of God, 
to unite movement and repose, work and recol- 
lection. Think always of God, but in such a 
manner that you do not cease to act; act, but 
in such a manner that you do not cease to think 



278 EIGHTH DAY. 

of God. And to arrive at this high degree of 
perfection, endeavor to seek only one end even 
in the diversity of your occupations ; that is, the 
good pleasure and holy will of God. End by 
offering yourself as in the preceding points. 

FOURTH POINT. 

Recall what you meditated on the first point; 
that is, that there is in God an ardent desire, 
and as it were a need to communicate all His 
perfections to you, as much as the infinite can 
be communicated to the finite. Consider that 
you find the weak and rude image of these per- 
fections in created things. All that there is 
good and beautiful in creatures, what is it but 
an emanation of the Divinity ? The power, wis- 
dom, goodness of men, from whence do they 
come if not from God, as the rays come firom 
the sun, and the stream from the fountain ? 

From this consideration arises a double con- 
sequence, which is the fourth and last degree 
of the love of God: detachment from creatures, 
and detachment from ourselves. 

1. Detachment from creatures ; because they 
have only very limited perfections, and those 
lent to them ; while God possesses all perfection 
and in an infinite degree. 



THIRD MEDITATION. 279 

2. Detachment from ourselves; because all 
our being and all our happiness depend, not on 
us, but on God, as the light of the ray depends 
on the sun, the water of the stream on the foun- 
tain. According to the words of oar Lord, to 
find ourselves is to lose ourselves, because in us 
and of ourselves there is only nothingness : "He 
that loveth his life shall lose it," (John xii. 25;) 
and, on the contrary, to hate ourselves, leave 
ourselves, lose ourselves, is to find ourselves, 
because then we find ourselves in God, who 
alone is our life, our happiness and our being : 
" He that hateth his life shall keep it unto life 
eternal." (Ibid.) 

From this double detachment springs true 
liberty of spirit, which consists in no longer 
being bound either to creatures or to ourselves, 
and in reposing perfectly and solely on the love 
of God. In this state the soul is absolutely 
indifferent to all that is not God. For in it there 
is only one thought — to please God in all its 
actions ; only one desire — soon to quit this earth, 
in order fully to possess God in heaven. 

Finish as in the preceding points. 

Sum up, in order to profit better by them, 

the four degrees of the love of God, as they are 

proposed to us by St. Ignatius. 
24 



280 EIGHTH DAY. 

1. A God from whom I hold all; I ought, 
then, to render Him all. Hence entire oblation 
of myself. 

2. A God who is present in every creature 
and in myself; I ought, then, to live in God 
by a constant and happy remembrance of His 
presence. 

3. A God who acts in every creature, and for 
my service, but without losing any thing of His 
infinite repose ; I ought, then, to act in God and 
for his service, without ever losing sight of His 
presence. 

4. A God who wishes to communicate all 
His perfections to me, and who beforehand 
shows me the image of them in a faint degree 
in His creatures ;. I ought, then, to leave both 
creatures and myself, in order to attach myself 
only to God, in whom I find, as in their source, 
and in an infinite degree, all perfections. 

Colloquy according to the accustomed method.- 

Suscipe or Pater, Ave. 



APPENDIX. 

BISHOP DAVID'S MANUAL 

OF TELE 

RELIGIOUS LIFE. 



TO MY BELOVED DAUGHTERS OF NAZARETH. 

Although your rules, dictated by the heavenly wisdom of 
your holy Founder, My dear Daughters, are sufficient, if faith- 
fully observed, to lead you to a great perfection ; yet to pro- 
mote that perfection, which is the object of my most earnest 
desires, I have, this long time, felt myself moved to write for 
you some advices on your religious duties, and to form of 
them a sort of Manual, which you might have often in your 
hands, to animate you to an exact observance of them. A 
want of leisure, at first, and then many other obstacles have 
hitherto hindered me from accomplishing that design ; which 
I hope to be able to do now, with the help of Heaven. This 
Manual will consist of four parts ; the first shall treat of the 
general notions and maxims of a religious life ; the second 
of the spirit and virtues peculiar to your institute ; the third 
of the exercises and practices of the institute ; the fourth of 
the duties annexed to the various offices. 

(281) 



282 APPENDIX. 



GENERAL NOTIONS AND MAXIMS OF A RELIGIOUS 
LIFE. 

ARTICLE FIRST. 

Eight marks to know whether a religious community is well regulated, and 
retains its primitive spirit. 

1. If all things in the community be faithfully held in 
common, so that no one will pretend to say : This or that is 
mine ; for then the community exhibits an image of the first 
and most perfect community that ever was, and of which it 
is said, "And the multitude of the believers had but one 
heart and one soul. Neither did any one say, that of the things 
which he possessed, any thing was his own, but all things 
were common unto them ; Neither was there any one needy 
among them.'' ( Acts iv. 32, 34.) 

2. If charity and concord flourish in it, by means of the 
mutual respect and honor, which all the religious bear one to 
another. 

3. If ambition is banished from it, with all desires of 
honor and preferment ; so that every one shuns offices, in 
which there is some appearance of honor, yet without ceasing 
to qualify herself for any, in case the will of God should call 
her to it. 

4. If solitude and silence are cherished and observed by 
all, with a perfect obedience to Superiors, without any ex- 
ception or hesitation. 

5. If there is but little frequentation and visits of parents, 
relations, or other persons of the world : and if, when neces- 
sity compels them to receive such visits, the Sisters make it 
a practice to speak with them of spiritual things, besides 
those which are necessary. 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 283 

6. If the Sisters entertain a great desire of advancing in 
virtue and perfection, and to obtain it, employ all their care, 
labor, and industry. 

7. If the rules are faithfully observed, and if penances 
and mortifications are duly imposed, and exactly accomplished 
by those who have transgressed them. 

8. If all the Sisters zealously apply to the practice of 
mental prayer, particular and general examinations of con- 
science, the frequentation of the Sacraments, the reading of 
good books, and such other exercises as are prescribed by 
the rule, for the acquisition of virtue and perfection ; which 
is the end, for which they have entered into a religious life. 
To this add — 

ARTICLE SECOISTD. 

The four interior supports of a religious community. 

First. Mental prayer ; Second. The spirit of faith : Third. 
Interior recollection ; Fourth. Fraternal charity ; and the 
four exterior supports, namely : 

First. The accusation of their faults, made with exactness 
and humility ; Second. Mutual admonitions given with 
charity, but without human respect, and received with grati- 
tude and docility ; Third. The rendering an account of their 
consciences, made with openness and docility ; Fourth. The 
manner of spending the recreations. 

ARTICLE THIRD. 

The nine fruits of a religious life, pointed out by St. Bernard. 

In religion a soul first, leads her life more purely ; second, 
falls into sin more rarely ; third, rises from it more quickly ; 
fourth, walks more cautiously ; fifth, is watered with grace 



284 APPENDIX. 

more frequently ; sixth, reposes more securely ; seventh, 
dies more confidently ; eighth, is purified more speedily ; 
ninth, is rewarded more abundantly. 

ARTICLE FOURTH. 

The nature and excellency of a religious life. 

Keligion, or a religious life, is no other than a certain 
state tending to Christian perfection, by means of the three 
vows of Poverty, Chastit}^, and Obedience, which are made in 
religion, for the love of God, and through a desire of pleasing 
and serving Him. It is a state instituted by Jesus Christ 
Himself, first, in His apostles and disciples, and ever since 
continued and observed in His Church, by a great number of 
men and women, who have embraced and followed this 
holy manner of life. It is a state of perfection, in which all 
those virtues meet together, of which every religious person 
ought to make a profession. It is, says St. Basil, an institute 
high and subhme. It is a perpetual sacrifice of one's self, 
which the religious offers continually to God, by means of 
the three vows aforesaid, whereby he sacrifices to God all the 
goods he possesses, with his body and soul. It is a perfect 
way of living by the perfect imitation of the life of Jesus 
Christ, who has exhorted us to this excellent manner of life, 
both by His words and by His example. It is, says St. 
Ephrem, a heavenly and angelical life. It is, says St. Bernard, 
an imitation of the life of the apostles, and a profession of apos- 
tolical perfection, a high and elevated state of sanctity, where 
we find the excellence of that spiritual life, which renders 
religious persons alike to angels, and different fi-om the rest 
of mortals, by reforming in man the image of God, and 
making him alike to Jesus Christ. It is a state of penance. 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 285 

say the holy Doctors ; a state, which contains, not only the 
perfection of charity, but also the perfection of penance. 
St. Thomas observes, that there is no satisfaction that can be 
compared to the penance of those, who have consecrated 
themselves to God in a religious state. The flower of relig- 
ion, is sanctity ; the proper office of which is to offer to God 
our heart and soul, pure, entire, and free from all defilement 
of sin ; and to consecrate that soul to His service, with all 
its powers, by means of prayer and devotion, which are the 
two daughters of the sanctity of life. 

What is a Monastery ? A Monastery is a heaven upon 
earth. Therefore, concludes St. John Clim^acus, in the fourth 
degree of his Spiritual Ladder, as we believe that the angels 
in heaven serve God with the purest and most ardent love, 
so we must serve our Brothers and Sisters in the Monastery. 
A Monastery is the fortress and citadel of God, fortified and 
furnished with every thing necessary for defense. It is the 
field and farm of the Son of God, from which He continually 
draws great and abundant revenues to His own honor and 
glor}^ ; says St. Bernard. A Monastery is the inclosed gar- 
den of the Spouse, His Paradise of delight. His nuptial bed, 
pure and undefiled. It is the school of virtue, the tabernacle 
of the Covenant, the closet of the Spouse, the fort of His 
soldiers, the house of sanctity, the bulwark of chastity, the 
academy of piety, the abode of devotion, and the dwelling 
of perfection. A Monastery is Jacob's ladder on which the 
angels of heaven are ascending and descending. It ' is the 
house of God, and the gate of heaven, says St. Anthony, 
There is to be found the fairest and soundest part of the 
Church of God, and of the flock of Jesus Christ. For, as 
St. Gregory ISTaziauzen remarks, those ought to be counted 
wiser and more prudent than the rest of the people, who 
have retired from the crowd and the bustle of the world, and 



286 APPENDIX. 

have consecrated their lives to God. A Monastery is a Mount 
Thabor, on which Jesus Christ transfigures Himself; a fertile 
and fat mountain ; a mountain in which God is well pleased 
to dwell. There we find Peter, that is, Obedience ; James, 
that is, Evangelical Poverty ; and John the blessed disciple, 
that is. Chastity, which all the inhabitants of that holy mount- 
ain vow to God, and faithfully observe. These three things 
are so agreeable to God, that He permits, in this miserable 
life, the true religious to enjoy here below a portion of that 
heavenly glory and felicity, which He has prepared for His 
elect in Heaven ; so that religious persons, faithful to their 
institute, are moved to say, with St. Peter, " Lord, it is good 
for us to be here." 

Eeligious persons are the domestics of God ; they are 
the chosen members of the family of Jesus Christ, says 
St. Bernard. "I know not," continues the holy Doctor, 
''what more worthy title I can give religious persons. Shall 
I call them heavenly men, or earthly angels, who dwell on 
earth, but whose conversation is in heaven ? It is the occu- 
pation of angels to be always in the exercise of praising God 
and doing His will : and it is also the constant occupation of 
the religious woman. She applies herself, b}^ fervent prayers, 
to appease the anger of God, and to obtain graces for her 
neighbor. The hol}^ will of God is the sole rule of all her 
actions. She continually employs her mind, sometimes in 
reading good books, at other times in the exercise of good 
works. Separated from all unnecessar}^ communication with 
persons of another sex, one religious person inspires life into 
another and keeps guard over her." 

" How excellent is that life," exclaims St. Ambrose, "in 
which there is nothing to be feared, and much to imitate." 
( Ep. XXV.) He may have a sweet assurance of being admitted 
into the heavenly Jerusalem, who has been called into the 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 287 

assembly and congregation of the just. For it is a great 
sign of the Divine predilection and predestination, to be 
called to the enjoyment of that religious company and con- 
fraternity. " It is a great honor, a great glory to serve Thee, 
Lord, and to despise all things for Thee. For they who 
willingly subject themselves to Thy most holy service, shall 
have a great grace ; they shall find the most sweet consola- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, who, for the love of Thee, have cast 
away all carnal delights." " They shall gain great freedom 
of mind, who, for Thy name's sake, enter upon the narrow 
way, and neglect all worldly care." " pleasant and delight- 
ful service of God, which makes men equal to angels, pleasing 
to God, terrible to devils, and commendable to all the faithful ! 
service worthy to be embraced and always desired, which 
leads to the Supreme Good, and procures a joy that will 
never end ! " ( Following of Christ, book iii. c. 10.) 

"Embrace, my dear Sisters," says St. Bernard, "em- 
brace this life. Carefully preserve this precious pearl of 
religion. Embrace that sanctity of life, which makes you 
alike to the saints of Paradise, and the familiar friends of God." 

ARTICLE FIFTH. 

Some particular sentences of the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church in 
favor and recommendation of the three vows of religion. 

OF RELIGIOUS POVERTY. 

1. " To sell all and distribute it to the poor ; and being 
thus disengaged from all things, to take one's flight towards 
Heaven, where Jesus Christ is, is an act of apostolic eleva- 
tion and perfection, and the effect of a heroic virtue." ( St. 
Jerome, Ep. viii.) 

2. " Wilt thou be perfect and ascend to the first degree 

25 



288 APPENDIX. 

of dignity ; do what the apostles have done : forsake all 
things and follow Jesus : sell all things and give them to the 
poor, and follow thy Saviour, carrying the cross, naked and 
alone." ( St. Jerome ad. Hebr., Ep. cl.) 

3. " The beginning of perfection and of a spiritual life, 
is a renouncing of all earthly things ; and the end of it is 
charity." ( St. John Climacus — last degree of his Ladder.) 

4. " Poverty was not seen in heaven, but it was found 
every where on earth, yet the world did not know its value. 
The Son of God came down from heaven upon earth, in 
order to render it precious and acceptable to men, b}^ the 
choice and esteem He entertained for it, in taking it upon 
Himself, and cordially embracing it for our sake." ( St. 
Bernard.) 

5. -St. Francis of Assisium used to say : " that religious 
poverty was the way of salvation, the support of humility, 
and the root of perfe(!tion ; that this virtue produced man}'' 
and divers excellent fruits, although hidden, and known to 
but few persons ; and that nothing rendered man more com- 
mendahle and agreeable in the eyes of God than this evan- 
gelical virtue." (St. Bonaventure, in his life of St. Francis.) 

6. God says to the religious the same as He said to the 
tribe of Levi, consecrated to His worship : *' In this land 
you shall possess nothing, neither shall 3'ou have a portion 
among them ; I am thy portion and inheritance in the 
midst of the children of Israel." (Xumb. xviii. 20.) 

7. " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven." (Matt. x. 3.) 

OF CHASTITY. 

1. *' Jesus Christ, who was the first to teach humility, was 
also the first to teach chastity." ( St. Augustine.) 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 289 

2. '' It is a deed of great faith and of great virtue, to be- 
come the most pure temple of God, to offer one's self as a 
holocaust, and to be, as the apostle says, holy both in body 
and mind.*' ( St. Jerome.) 

3. " The life of those who are chaste and continent is the 
life of angels," say the holy Fathers Chrysostom, Basil and 
Ambrose. 

4. What happiness is it not, to be the servant-maid of 
Jesus Christ, not a mortal husband but the immortal Spouse 
of religious souls ; not to obey the flesh, but to obey the 
spirit ! " For he who adheres to the Lord, is one spirit." 
( 1 Cor. vi. 17.) 

5. *' The life of virgins and religious souls, is the life of 
angels. It is a most beautiful and odoriferous flower, and a 
most precious stone among the riches and treasures of the 
Church." (St. Jerome, Ep. xvii.) 

6. " Virgins and religious persons are the blossoms of the 
germ of the Church, the honor and ornament of a spiritual 
life. They are subjects worthy of praise and honor, a perfect 
and immortal work, an image and representation of the 
Divine Being, corresponding with the sanctity of our Lord ; 
in short, it is the most illustrious part and portion of the 
sheepfold of Jesus Christ." ( St. Cyprian.) 

7. " Virginity, ( this is understood of that which is vowed 
or forever preserved in our hearts for the love of God.) is 
the sister of angels, the victory over lusts, and the possession 
of all goods," says St. Cyprian. 

8. " Perpetual virginity and chastity is a most agreeable 
sacrifice to God, and the most fit to obtain His favors," says 
St. Ambrose, and also Ongen. "It is truly a very great and 
a most beautiful virtue, which, to say all in one word, makes 
the person, who is pure in soul and body, to be alike to God 
Himself," says St. Basil. 



290 APPENDIX. 

9. " As much as . an angel is above man, so much is 
virginity, consecrated to God, more honorable than marriage ; 
for virginal chastity is an angelical life." (St. John Damasc.) 

" Purity bringeth near to God. No price is worthy of a 
continent soul." " Oh how beautiful is the chaste generation 
with glory ! For the memory thereof is immortal ; because 
it is known both with God and with men ! " 

Oh Chastity, mother of love and charity, angelical way 
of living! (Eccl. xxvi.) Oh Chastity, ever pure in thy 
heart, ever bright to the sight, and glorious to the speech ! 
Oh Chastity, haven of grace and salvation ! Oh Chastity, 
that fiUest thy professor with joy, and givest wings to the 
soul to fly to Heaven ! Oh Chastity, thou bringest gladness 
to the heart, and drivest all sadness far away ! Oh Chastity, 
thou subduest passions and freest the soul from trouble ! Oh 
Chastity, spiritual chariot that bearest upwards the soul that 
possesses thee ! Oh Chastity, that as a budding rose, openest 
thyself and flourishest amidst the body and the soul, and 
fiUest the whole interior house with thy delightful odor ! 

OBEDIENCE. 

1. "Obedience," said Samuel to Saul, *'is better than 
sacrifices ; " for this reason, says St. Gregory, " that by sac- 
rifices the flesh of other animals is immolated, but, by 
obedience, we immolate our own will, which is an oblation 
of inestimable value before God." 

2. " Obedience is an admirable virtue, that causes man to 
forget himself, and to tend continually towards his Redeemer." 
( St. Thomas.) 

3. " The way of obedience is the King's highway, which 
leads, in all safety, those who practise it, to the top of the 
ladder of perfection, on which God appears leaning." 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 291 

4. *' Man can not give to God any thing greater, than to 
submit his own will to the will of another, for the love of 
God." (St. Thomas.) 

5. " Obedience is a virtue, which, in a rational creature, is 
as the mother and guardian of all virtues." ( St. Augustine.) 

6. " An obedient man shall speak of victory." " We in- 
deed," says St. Gregory, " combat Satan by every sort of 
virtue, but we vanquish him by obedience. Those come out 
victorious who obey." 

7. " Obedience is the only virtue which implants in the 
soul the other virtues, so that as long as obedience shall 
flourish, the other virtues shall never wither away." ( St. 
Gregory.) 

8. It is a deed much more meritorious, to submit our 
will forever to the will of another, than to chastise our body 
by long fasts, and to afflict our soul by a continual penance. 



ARTICLE SIXTH. 

A summary of the rules of ancient Monks. 

We learn, by the venerable monuments of the ancient 
discipline of Monks, many very important points for the con- 
duct of the rehgious, whether superiors or inferiors ; the obser- 
vance of which is capable of preserving monasteries in all 
the lustre of their primitive institution, and to make of the 
religious so many models of regularity, sanctity and edifica- 
tion in the Church of Jesus Christ. 

1. We see in the first place, with what zeal and attention 
the principal leaders of the monastic state of former times 
formed assemblies for the maintenance of regular observance, 
and the encouragement of the religious in the duties and 
virtues of their state ; and what was, at the same time, their 



292 APPENDIX. 

charity, their meekness, their patience, their prudence, and 
their firmness in the government. . 

2. We see the strict obligation incumbent on superiors, 
never to seek their own interest ; never to appropriate to 
themselves any thing belonging to the Monastery ; never to 
absent themselves without necessity, that they may watch 
continually over all the souls committed by Providence to 
their care ; to have an equal charity for all ; never to j udge 
their brethren through passion or caprice, but according to 
the rules of the most exact equity ; to instruct them in sound 
doctrine ; to nourish them spiritually with the bread of the 
word of God ; to hear and console them in their troubles ; 
to correct them in their faults ; to stretch out to them a 
charitable hand in their heavier faults ; to employ, some- 
times rigor, and sometimes weakness, to recall them, when 
they go astray ; to remove from them the occasions of scan- 
dal ; to provide, without predilection or preference, for all their 
temporal needs, both in health and sickness ; to give to them 
all good examples ; to be always at their head in all the 
regular observances ; finally, to govern them, as being per- 
suaded that they are to give an account of them, soul for 
soul, to the Sovereign Judge. 

3. We see what ought to be the conduct of inferiors, 
towards their superiors, towards their brethren, and in the 
observance of their regular duties for the salvation of their 
own souls. They ought to fear their superiors as their mas- 
ters, love them as their fathers in Jesus Christ. They ought 
to receive their instructions with a spirit of piety, th^ir 
admonitions with respect, their corrections with meekness 
and in silence, their penance with docility and humility. 
They ought to obey them through virtue and religion, with 
dihgence and exactness, never doing an}^ thing without their 
orders, never disposing of any thing without their permission ; 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 293 

conforming themselves to their will in all things, and living 
with them in a filial confidence, and in an entire dependence. 
They ought, with regard to their brothers or sisters, to con- 
sider them in Jesus Christ, as supplying the place of the 
brothers, sisters, and other relatives, whom they have left in 
tlie world ; to cherish them with tenderness, to consider 
them as other themselves, and to observe towards them, by 
their meekness, their patience, their affiibility, their humility, 
all the rules of that charity which our Lord has recom- 
mended to us in the Gospel. 

Finally, with regard to themselves, they ought to be 
mortified in their senses, to love labor and occupation pre- 
ferably to repose and the conveniences of life ; to apply 
themselves to cultivate their souls by the practice of virtue 
and the exercise of piety ; to render themselves assiduous 
to all the duties of the Monastery, especially to those of 
prayer ; to obey quickly the signal which calls them to those 
various duties ; to acquit themselves of them, not through 
constraint, or with negligence, but for the good of their 
souls and with a holy fervor. They must go abroad but 
very seldom, and never without necessity ; love their cells 
or work rooms, as the paradise of the earth ; and there 
employ themselves either in prayer, or reading, or labor, as 
they are directed ; shun the commerce of the world and all 
unprofitable communications with secular persons, and above 
all, with those of another sex, even with those who make 
a more particular profession of piety, such as priests and 
other clergymen or religious ; show themselves exteriorly, 
only to edify, and procure Jesus Christ to be glorified by 
their words and their modesty. They ought, in a word, to 
live as angels in the house of God ; since, by their holy 
vocation, God has drawn them from the world, that they 
might consecrate themselves entirely to Him ; looking on 



294 APPENDIX. 

their Monastery as an abode of sanctit}^, and on their habit 
as a garment of sanctity ; on all that surrounds them in the 
house of God, and on all their exercises, and the practices of 
of their state, as so many means of sanctity. Behold the end 
of the holy rules prescribed by those fathers of the religious 
life. 

Behold, then, what they taught their disciples, and pro- 
cured with so much care to be faithfully observed. And 
behold the true spirit, which ought to animate the good 
superiors in religious houses, and the good religious under 
their guidance. 

ABTICLE SEVENTH. 

Description of a Monastery of true Religious. 

The order of Tabenna might be considered as a prodigy, 
which God had wrought for the salvation of souls, and as a 
model, to be proposed to all those who wish to assemble 
souls together, to lead them to the most eminent perfection. 
St. Pachomius himself did not consider it in another light ; 
not through a vain complacency of self-love, but by a sentiment 
of the mercy of God on a work which he had undertaken 
only by His orders. There was to be seen at Tabenna, an 
almost innumerable multitude of fervent religious, whose 
whole study was to disengage themselves from the weight 
and embarassment of worldly concerns, to carry with more 
facility the amiable yoke of Jesus Christ ; of religious per- 
sons solely devoted to the care of their own souls, and wholly 
intent on acquiring the sanctity of their state ; of religious 
persons, for whom the world was now nothing, and who 
seemed to live almost no longer upon earth, but already 
began, in some measure, to enjoy the bliss of heaven ; be- 
cause seeking, as they did, God with uprightness of heart, 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 295 

and serving him with a sincere affection, God in return filled 
them with the sweetness of His divine consolations, and 
caused them to enjoy an interior peace a thousand times 
more consoling, than all that can be enjoyed here below in 
the vain pleasures of the world. Those holy religious lived 
intimately united to one another by the tie of a most pure and 
holy charity. They mutually encouraged one another, to 
make daily progress in the life of the spirit. They fed their 
souls, with a holy avidity, with the food of the word of 
God. They conversed together only on the means of tri- 
umphing over their passions and the devil, and of arriving 
at a most eminent sanctity ; and although many of them 
were no other than peasants gathered from the neighboring 
villages, and consequently with iUiterate and uncultivated 
minds, they were full of the wisdom of God, by their assidu- 
ous study of the maxims of the Gospel, and the communi- 
cation of the light of Heaven, which they received in great 
abundance. Hence it will not appear astonishing, that several 
among them were elevated to the episcopacy, and that the 
Monastery of Tabenna soon acquired a great celebrity 
throughout the world ; that men should flock to it, not only 
from every part of Egypt and Armenia, but also from the 
West, and the utmost boundary of the known world ; the 
former to assure themselves, by their own eyes, of the won- 
ders which they had heard related, and the latter to place 
themselves under the discipline of the great Pachomius. 

ARTICLE EIGHTH. 

Exhortation of St. Pachomius to his Religious, after the vision in which God 
revealed to him the future decay of his Order. 

" Oh ! my brethren, so long as we shall have a breath of 
life, let us fight courageously for the salvation of our souls ; 



296 APPENDIX. 

lest, when it will be too late, we should repent for having 
neglected that important affair. Let us exercise ourselves 
cheerfully in the pursuit of God, and let us shun even the 
least appearance of sin. Ah ! my brethren, if we coukl pay 
due attention to the promises made by Almighty God to 
faithful religious souls, and to the frightful punishments 
which are prepared for negligent and remiss religious, we 
would exert all our strength to attain sanctity, according to 
the rules prescribed by Jesus Christ. Wo to him, who hav- 
ing renounced the world to consecrate himself to God, does 
not live conformably to the promises he has made to Him 1 
How much I fear lest our parents and kindred, whom we 
have forsaken and left in the world, and who hope that our 
pra3^ers and good works will be profitable to them before 
God, having made the sacrifice of bfeing deprived of us, that 
we might consecrate ourselvee to Him ; How much I fear, I 
say, lest in the da}^ of judgment, they may be covered with 
great shame and confusion, when they will see that, by our 
own fault, and against their expectations, we shall be ranked 
among the reprobate ! Therefore, my brethren, let us labor 
with all the ardor we are capable of; let us, above all, make 
use of the frequent remembrance of death, which is so effi- 
cacious to disengage our affections from the earth, to smother 
in our hearts the love of the world, and to elevate our minds 
to God. Let us think on it every night, when we go to 
take our rest. Let us then reason with ourselves ; let us 
address every member of our body, let us make our soul 
thus speak to them : ' my feet, that have now the facility 
of walking, be ye ever ready to do it in order to accomplish 
the will of God, before death comes to render you stiff and 
motionless. my hands, the time shall come, when you too 
must become stiff, cold, and incapable of motion ; but before 
this will happen, make a good use of your time, while you 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIEE. 297 

have the power ; whatsoever you are able to do, do it earn- 
estly. Extend yourselves to every good work, and raise 
3^ourselves to God in prayer. my body ! before we part, 
and thou be dissolved in dust, let us labor together to render 
to God the service which we owe Him. Act now with 
courage ; often prostrate thyself before God ; furnish me with 
abundant tears ; submit thyself to the yoke of the Lord ; 
help me to walk with Him, and to embrace with a holy joy 
all that belongs to His service. Think not on taking rest 
nor remaining idle in this world, lest thou shouldst precipi- 
tate me with thee into eternal flames. If thou now hearken 
to me, thou shalt share with me the heavenly inheritance ; 
but if thou resist, wo to me for being so closely united to 
thee, as we are. Thy perdition will necessarily draw mine 
after it : we shall both be eternally tormented.' 

" If you thus encourage yourselves every day, my breth- 
ren, you will see that God will abide in you, as in His own 
chosen temple ; and being with Him, you will have no occa- 
sion to fear the artifices of the devil, but you shall be en- 
lightened with the light of the Holy Ghost, who will conduct 
you better than a thousand masters, and will impart to you 
a spiritual knowledge which no human words could convey 
to your minds." 

To this exhortation of St. Pachomius, I will join that 
of Orsisius, one of his successors ; that you may know by the 
lessons of these great masters, the true spirit and fruits of a 
religious Life. After having shown to superiors their obli- 
gations, he addresses his words to every religious in particular, 
whom he earnestly exhorts, with several texts of the Holy 
Scriptures, very happily applied, to labor in working out 
their own sanctification : — 

" Be ye," says he, " as faithful servants, who are expecting 
their Master, with your loins girded, and burning lamps in 



298 APPENDIX. 

your hands. Let not the length of the labor dishearten 
you, considering that you shall be one day introduced into 
the heavenly banquet. Serve the Lord with joy. Be sub- 
missive to your superiors. Avoid murmuring and vain 
reasonings. Apply to all your duties vrith simplicity, that 
being adorned with virtues and the fear of God, you may 
render yourselves worthy of the adoption with which God 
has honored you. Eemember that you are the temple of 
God, and that He could exterminate you, if you were so 
unhappy as to violate this temple by sin. * Grieve not the 
holy spirit of God.' ( Eph. iv. 30.) Live in a great purity, 
that it may be said of you, that you are * a garden enclosed, 
a fountain sealed up/ ( Cant, iv.) Renounce all the vain 
desires of the earth ; and let all your. care be, to accomphsh 
the holy will of God. I conjure you al^o to maintain your- 
selves continually in the resolution, which you have taken in 
embracing a religious state. Consider the lessons of your 
fathers, as a mysterious ladder by which to ascend to heaven. 
Desire no longer what you have once trampled under your 
feet. Content yourselves with what is barely necessary in 
the affairs of this life, and seek not what is superfluous. 
Good religious, who submit with humility and mortification 
to the yoke of religious poverty, of that happy poverty, 
which enriches them, by stripping them of all temporal pos- 
sessions ; good rehgious, I say, shall have, when they will 
happily lay aside that vile spoil of their body, the happiness 
of being associated with the patriarchs, the prophets, and 
the apostles ; and they shall repose, as Lazarus, in the bosom 
of Abraham. But those who dare appropriate to themselves, 
in Monasteries, what ought to be employed for the common 
use of their brethren, shall be told when they go out of 
this world, as the rich man mentioned in the Gospel, that 
they have possessed goods in this life, while their brethren 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 299 

lived in labor, fasting, and mortification ; and that it is but 
just that these latter should now, in preference to them, enjoy 
the goods and delights of eternity ; since, to possess them, 
they have cheerfully renounced the conveniences of this life. 
But, as to those, who would not conform themselves to the 
Gospel, they deserve nothing but the torments and frightful 
misery of hell." 

Orsisius shows thereby, how much he had at heart the 
practice of religious poverty. He insists upon this, more 
than upon any other point. He recommends that nothing 
useless should be retained, but only what is permitted by 
the rule. He says, " that if any one appropriates to himself 
any furniture, and keeps it to himself or gives it to another 
to keep for him, both are guilty, and ought no longer to be 
regarded as being in the number of the brethren ; but rather 
as hirelings, strangers, scandalous subjects, and destroyers 
of the monastic discipline." 

Although he recommends much charity and union, yet 
he will not have any of those human and natural friendships, 
which are contrary to the charity which should bind all alike 
together, and constitute singularities. When a superior re- 
proves a brother for a fault, he specially forbids that another, 
under pretense of friendship, should presume to defend him, 
and to maintain his cause against the superior : " Because," 
says he, "but for your interference, he would have risen 
again and returned to his duty, and you prostrate him anew ; 
he would have corrected his error, and you cause him to 
go still further out of the right way. Wo to you, who thus 
intoxicate your brother, by presenting to him a liquor that 
troubles his mind ! Wo to you, who turn the blind from 
his right path ! You inspire, with a proud independence, 
him who was ready to submit ; you fill with bitterness the 
heart of him who was about to taste the sweets of charity ; 



300 APPENDIX. 

you seduce liim into rebellion, when he was disposed to sur- 
render to discipline ; and you irritate his mind against the 
superior, who had no other view than to instruct him accord- 
ing to the spirit of God." 

Finally, Orsisius ends his treatise by the following words, 
which are so very instructive, and which also show that he 
was approaching the end of his course, when he addressed 
them to his religious community : 

" I will speak to you again, my dearest children, since 
the Lord would have me to take the charge of your conduct. 
I have not ceased to admonish each of you in particular, and 
to exhort you with tears, that you should render yourselves 
agreeable to God. I can not reproach myself with having 
concealed from you any thing which I thought would be 
profitable for the salvation of your souls. And now I com- 
mend you to God, and pray that His grace may fortify j^ou, 
and conduct you to the possession of the heavenly inher- 
itance. Be watchful, labor earnestly, never lose sight of 
the end which you proposed to yourselves, in embracing a 
religious life, and faithfully comply with the engagements 
which you have contracted. As to me, I feel that I am going, 
and that the time of my dissolution is approaching. I have 
fought, at least in part, a good fight. I have kept the faith. 
It now remains for me to receive the crown of justice, which 
God, as a just Judge, has laid up for me, and will render me 
at the last day ; and not to me only, but to all those who 
have loved justice, and have kept the precepts of their fathers. 
I conclude with these words, that contain all that I could 
say to you : Fear the Lord ; observe His commandments ; 
for He will examine in His judgments all the works of man 
both good and evil.'' 



MANUAL OF THE BELIGIOUS LIFE. 301 

ARTICLE NINTH. 

The happy state of a religious soul that has subdued her passions. 

St. John of Egypt, exhorting the religious to banish 
vices from their souls, pointed out vanity as one of the most 
dangerous, and attended with the most pernicious conse- 
quences ; and he observes that this subtle vice, attacks 
equally both those who begin, and those who are already 
much advanced in virtue. From vanity, the Saint passes to 
other vices, and exhorts the religious to combat them cour- 
ageously. The means he suggests for succeeding in this is, 
to watch carefully in keeping a guard over their minds and 
their hearts, to prevent any vain desire, any disorderly will 
from taking deep roots in them. " For, besides, this would 
produce a crowd of distractions, which take possession of the 
soul in time of prayer, captivate the mind, cause the imagin- 
ation to wander about on a thousand unprofitable and per- 
nicious objects ; soon many depraved affections open by sin 
the door of the soul to the devil, who comes and establishes 
his dwelling there, as in a house that already belongs to him." 

He afterwards describes, in a few words, the deplorable 
state of a religious soul in whom the devil has established 
his empire by sin. "He never can," says he, "enjoy any 
peace or repose. The soul is always in trouble and dis- 
quietude. Sometimes she suffers herself to be carried away 
by a senseless external joy ; at other times she will sink into 
a deep sadness, because she had introduced into her 
interior a miserable guest, by yielding to her disorderly 
passions." Then, to render the deformity of the soul of a 
religious, who by his vices and passions has become the 
dwelling of the devil, more sensibly felt, the Saint opposes to 
it the happy state of him who has opened the door of his 



302 APPENDIX. 

heart to the Holy Ghost, by subduing his passions ; which 
he describes in the following manner : " On the contrary, he 
who has truly and sincerely renounced the world, that is, 
who has retrenched sin from his heart, and left no doors open, 
whereby it may find an entrance into it again ; he who re- 
strains his anger, subdues his disorderly motions, shuns lying, 
detests envy ; who not only avoids detraction, but does not 
even give himself the liberty of judging his neighbor ; who 
looks upon the prosperity and affliction of his brethren as 
his own ; and conducts himself on every occasion accordingly ; 
such a one, I say, opens the door of his heart to the Holy 
Ghost ; who having once entered into it, nothing is found 
therein but contentment, joy, charity, patience, meekness, 
kindness, and all the other fruits which are produced by 
this Holy Spirit of consolation." 

After having shown them what the religious ought to 
avoid, St. John points out what he ought to strive to acquire. 
The Saint insists principally on purity of heart. He requires 
that he should aim at it by all combats against his passions, 
by every effort to purify his soul from all irregular affections, 
and by every spiritual exercise which he practices in his 
state. He assures him, that this purity of heart will dis- 
pose him wonderfully for contemplation, and for receiving the 
most signal graces. What he says on the subject deserves 
to be related in full, because it includes, in a few words and 
in a very simple manner, what the masters of a spiritual life 
have said, in greater detail and more extensively, of eminent 
prayer, and of the sacred commerce of the soul with God, 
and with the Blessed Spirit. 

"If, there fore,'' says he, ''we present ourselves before God, 
with a conscience pure and free from those defects and pas- 
sions of which t have already spoken, we shall be able to see 
God, as much as He can be seen in this life, and to raise up 



MAISTUAL OF THE HELIGIOUS LIFE. 303 

to Him, in our prayers, the eye of • our understanding, to con- 
template, not with corporeal eyes, nor with sensible looks, 
but with the eyes of the mind and by an intellectual knowl- 
edge. Him who is invisible. For let no one persuade himself, 
that he can contemplate the Divine Essence, such as.it is in 
itself; nor attempt to form for that purpose, in his mind, 
some image that has any relation to a corporeal figure. Let 
us not imagine any form in God, nor any limit, whereby He 
can be circumscribed ; but let Him be conceived as a pure 
spirit, who can make us feel His presence, and penetrate the 
affections of our souls ; but who can neither be compre- 
hended, limited, nor represented by words. For which 
reason, we ought never to approach Him, but with a profound 
respect and a very great fear ; nor consider Him with our 
interior looks, but in such a manner, that our souls may 
know that He is infinitely elevated above all the splendor, 
all the light, all the brightness, all the majesty, which they 
are capable of comprehending ; even though the}^ were all 
pure, and perfectly exempt from all the stains and blemishes 
of a corrupt will.'' 

After speaking thus of contemplation, the Saint comes to 
those extraordinary graces, which God sometimes grants a 
pure soul ; such as the holy familiarity with which He honors 
her, the mysteries and the secrets He reveals to her, and the 
apparitions to her of blessed spirits. " He who knows God 
after this sort, shall afterwards acquire the knowledge of 
other things, and even of the greater mysteries : for the 
purer his soul will be, the more will God reveal to him of 
His divine secrets ; because He will then consider him as 
His friend, and as one of those to whom our Saviour says in 
the Gospel, 'I will not now call you servants, but I have 
called you friends.' (John xv. 15.) And thus He will 
grant to him, as to a friend who is most dear to His heart, 
26 



304 APPENDIX. 

the effect of his prayers. The angels and all the blessed 
spirits who are in Heaven will cherish him, as being the 
friend of their God and Master ; they will fulfill his desires ; 
and it may be said truly of him, that ' neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate him from the love of God 
which is in Christ our Lord.' " 



ARTICLE TENTH. 
The happiness of a vocation to a religious life. 

1. You can never conceive a sufficient esteem and love 
for your vocation. It is a favor that you should esteem a 
thousand times more than all the sceptres and crowns of the 
universe, and that you ought to love more than the dearest 
things you have in the world. Ah ! Can you ever sufficiently 
esteem a state, which preserves you from a multitude of 
sins, which you would be incessantly committing in the 
world, had you remained exposed to its dangers ; a stat^ 
which keeps you continually occupied in exercises of piety, 
which causes you to merit every moment immortal crowns 
of glory ; a state, which gives you God Himself for your 
portion and inheritance ; which procures for you the advan- 
tages and honor of dwelling in His own house, where He 
makes you taste of ineffable delights ; a state, in fine, that 
will conduct you infallibly to Heaven, if you faithfully com- 
ply with the duties thereof. It is an inestimable grace, the 
full value of which you shall never know till you are in 
eternity. What have you done for God to induce Him to 
grant you such a favor, and to give you the preference over 
so many others who perhaps deserved it more than you, and 
would have made a better use of it than you do ? Let, 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 305 

then, this grace be most dear and precious to you. Give 
thanks to God for it every day, and fail not to renew also 
every day the vows which bind you to it. This renovation 
is the confirmation of the alliance, which you contracted 
with God on the day of your profession ; and as often as you 
make it, it draws upon you new graces from His divine 
liberality. 

2. Endeavor to comprehend well the excellence of your 
state, that you may conceive for it a still greater esteem and 
love. There is nothing greater in the Christian religion. It 
seems that nothing equals the excellence and perfection of 
martyrdom ; because charity, in which perfection consists, 
can not be carried to a higher degree, than to suffer for 
Jesus Christ. But the religious state is not only a martyr- 
dom, but it includes a multitude of martyrdoms. For the 
consecration of ourselves to the service of God, especially by 
religious vows, is a martyrdom, in the judgment of the pious 
person ; because it makes us die to the world, and immo- 
lates us to God. Obedience is a martyrdom, according to 
St. Theodore ; because it makes us die to our own will. 
Chastity is a martyrdom, in the opinion of St. Ambrose ; 
because it makes us die to the pleasures of the body. Pov- 
erty is a martyrdom, if we believe St. Bernard, because it 
engages us to suffer many inconveniences, and makes us die 
to the love of riches. Mortification of vices is a martyrdom, 
as St. Gregory, Pope, assures us ; because it crucifies the 
flesh with its vices and concupiscences. Penance is a mar- 
tyrdom, in the sentiment of St. John Chrysostom, because it 
afflicts all the members of the body, which had become an 
instrument of sin. Purity of the heart is a martyrdom, in 
the opinion of St. Jerome, because it makes us die to sin. 
The love of God is a martyrdom, in the judgment of St. 
Bridget, because it consumes us with its fire, and makes us 



306 APPEISTDIX. 

die of grief to see God so little loved, so ill served, and so 
much offended. The love of our neighbor is a martyrdom, 
according to St. Gregory Xazianzen, because it makes us 
share in his sufferings, and suffer with patience his defects, 
his persecutions, and his injustices. All christian and reHg- 
ious virtues are, finally, so many martyrdoms, in the estima- 
tion of St. Cyprian, who calls them the glorious martyrdoms 
of virtue ; because they make us die to the opposite vices, 
and because we must offer to ourselves a great violence in 
order to practise them. 

The rehgious state includes in itself all those sorts of 
martyrdom, because it engages us to practise all those virtues. 
We may say that a true religious soul resembles those heroes 
of the Christian religion, who suffered a great many martyr- 
doms by the various tortures which the cruelty of tyrants 
inflicted upon them ; but with these three differences, which 
are very glorious to her : first. That her martyrdom is volun- 
tary and of her own free choice ; whereas that of other 
martyrs was often forced upon them : she offers herself 
freely unto death ; whereas the martyrs were dragged there- 
to ; second, That the other martyrs were the martyrs of 
faith ; but she is the martyr of perfection. They suffered 
that they might not lose their souls ; she suffers to make 
herself more perfect and more • agreeable to God. They 
were the martyrs of the war made upon the Church ; she is 
the martyr of the peace which the Church enjoys. Third, 
The torments of other martyrs soon had an end ; but hers 
last as long as the ordinary course of human life. Now all 
these divers kinds of martyrdom shall be for her an immortal 
crown of glory in heaven. Think now how happy you are, 
to have been called to a state, in which you may merit so 
many rich crowns ! How precious your vocation ought to be in 
your eyes, since it procures to you so many rare advantages ! 



MANUAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 307 

Apply yourself, then, with so much fervor to the practice 
of all the virtues which it requires of you, that you may 
render yourself worthy of all those great rewards. A pious 
author says : " The spiritual nuptials of a religious soul, 
between her and Christ, begin in the noviciate, are ratified 
and confirmed in the profession, and are perfected and con- 
summated in the heavenly glory, where the soul is insepara- 
bly united to Christ." St. Bernard having been ordained 
Abbot of Clairvaux, is said to have thus addressed the novices 
who came to his Monastery : " If you hasten to the acquisi- 
tion of the goods that are within, leave' there out of doors 
those bodies, which you have brought from the world. Let 
your spirit alone enter ; the flesh availeth nothing." The 
founders of religious institutes had no other view, than to 
assemble together only such as were willing to give them- 
selves to God with all their hearts, and who sought, through 
the sweetness of grace, the virtue of the sacraments, and the 
light of truth, to establish themselves in the precious life of 
sanctity ; a life of true devotion, which has no sweeter pleas- 
ure than to converse with God, to meditate on the things 
that God has done for us ; a life of charity, that moves souls 
to help one another as brothers and sisters ; a life of mjrtifi- 
cation, that does not permit us to suffer any evil in ourselves ; 
a life of humility, which delights in submitting itself to every 
body, and in anticipating others with good offices ; a life 
of penance, which subdues the flesh and represses the in- 
stincts of nature by holy austerities. It is for this end that 
religious communities have been instituted. But if the con- 
trary take place, if religious persons seek only the repose of 
nature and the satisfaction of the senses, honor, esteem, repu- 
tation, and praise, they plainly resist the designs of God, 
and should have remained in the world. 

THE END. 



to 



V 



7^ 






; 






\ ' 



•V 



A. "-■ ^ ^^ 



i \ 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Feb. 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



0\ 



